


The Ghost

by hunters_retreat



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, BDSM, December Drabble Days, F/M, Fae Jensen, Human Jared, M/M, Magic Police
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-18
Updated: 2011-11-18
Packaged: 2018-04-20 17:22:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 28,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4795907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hunters_retreat/pseuds/hunters_retreat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thirty years ago, humanity was changed.  The magic they scoffed at as nothing more than fairy tales and children's illusions was real and the barrier that separated them from that and the world of the fae came crashing down.  In the wake of that phenomena, new government agencies were created to deal with the problems of magic in the modern world.  Humans relied on the men and women of the DMI to protect them from the abuses of magic.  But when Agent Padalecki finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation with a civilian on his scene, he realizes it's not just any civilian.  The intruder is the Ghost, a fae that even the high Seelie court fear.  Faced with a murder investigation and a possible connection to a string of killings, Agent Padalecki must find a way to work with the Ghost to stop a killer before he can do the unthinkable; start a war between humanity and fae.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the spn_reversebang challenge! I had the honor of working with ladytiferet this round. She is an amazing artist, and really helped me brainstorm about what I was working on. Thank you so much hon!

  

  


  


The air was dark and damp, the sort of night that clung to the skin and made him feel dirty.  Or maybe it was just the job.  He slammed the door of the car, annoyed at the late hour, but mostly annoyed that he was being called out again.  Jared Padalecki loved his job, he loved being able to protect people and making sure that the people he loved were safe, however the other side of that was nights like tonight where a body was waiting for him in the middle of a public park.  
  
The moon was full and he’d have to find out if that was significant once they learned what sort of thing they were dealing with.  You could never tell with the crimes he came to witness.  The Department of Magical Intervention was just a small part of the justice system but it was getting more and more press lately and Jared was relieved to see the reporters weren’t out yet.  It was hard enough to control a crime scene without the media trying to get involved.  
  
Jared eyed the scene before finding the officer in charge, black suited DMI agents already starting to work the perimeter to see what they could find.  “I’m Agent Padalecki, DMI,” he said as he joined the police officer that was at the center of the efforts.  “What have you got?”  
  
“Officer Hanson,” the man introduced himself.  “A local guy was running through the park and found the body.  When we got to the scene we found the victim, Matt Abrams.  He’d been shot three times with bullets that were engraved with anti-fae symbols.”  
  
“Why is the DMI involved if there was no magic used here?”  
  
“The guy isn’t high on the ladder, but he works at the Fae Municipal Building with the local liaison.”  
  
“Damn.”  Even if there was no actual magic used at the scene, regular cops didn’t want to deal with the fae anymore than they had to.  There was no clear, discernible law to govern them and it had fallen under DMI protocol to take on all cases that might require the communication with the fae.  Jared hated being called onto a case for politics but there was no way around it.  
  
He looked at the body, found lying under an ash tree and watched as the local cops and DMI agents worked through the crime scene.  He saw the trail the man had been running through and the path it would have taken.  There was a perfect place for ambush, a bend in the path just ten feet from where he’d been found, and a strange man bending over the ground there, his back to Jared.  The path, he knew, would take him away from the center of the park and towards the – wait.  
  
He turned his eyes back to the man on the ground, dressed in jeans and a grey hoodie.  “What the hell is a civilian doing on my scene?”  
  
It wasn’t just a civilian though because the cop was looking at him like he’d lost his mind, eyes passing over the man where he sat as if he couldn’t see him.  Jared turned away from Officer Hanson and stalked towards the figure.  “What are you doing at my crime scene?” he demanded.  
  
It wasn’t the smartest move, he knew that.  It was never a good idea to antagonize the fae but he was pissed that he’d overlooked him that long, even with the protection he took.  The fae was powerful, had to be to make Jared’s eyes travel over him like he wasn’t there against three layers of protection.    
  
The fae’s head cocked to the side and Jared held his breath for a moment.  The fae’s profile was silhouetted by the moonlight and he knew then that he was dealing with the Seelie Court.  There was nothing as dangerous as the Seelie fae, nothing so beautiful and just a glimpse of high pale cheek bones, soft full lips, and the hint of sea green eyes made Jared’s knees weak.  It wasn’t glamour that made him so beautiful, but Jared couldn’t help but think the whole of the Seelie court should probably use their glamour to make them less attractive.  Unlike their cousins in the Unseelie court, they didn’t try to cloak their true appearance.

  
Jared had enough dealings with the Unseelie to know.  
  
“This is a crime scene,” Jared said when he finally got his tongue to stop clinging to the roof of his mouth.  “I need you to leave this area and perform whatever rites you need to at another location.”  He had no idea what the guy’s needs were but he’d never yet met a fae who didn’t have backup plans, especially not since humans had learned to see them.  
  
Thirty years ago, the fae could have performed his ritual right on top of the body and no one would have known.  Thirty years back though the barriers than held magic at bay had changed, giving humans the ability to not only see the fae, but to touch the same magic.  It had been a rough time for humanity; powers coming into play before people knew they had them let alone how to control them.  The fae hadn’t been too helpful either, showing their disdain for humans and their ability to control and sense magic.  In all humanity there were only two populations that the fae seemed to take any interest in; the voids and the latents.  Latents were people who didn’t develop their powers until late in life where some event triggered their ability.  Voids were unable to touch magic at all.  They could still see the fae, but they had no sense of what was magically happening around them.  Some people believed that all voids were possible latents if the right events came along but Jared felt he dissuaded that theory.  As the leading officer in the DMI unit, he had been in plenty of tricky situations and not one had triggered any sort of latent powers.  He was a void, plain and simple, and he preferred it that way.  
  
“You need to contact Ms. Cortese of the Seelie Liaison Office.  Tell her that Jensen Ackles is at the crime scene and requests permission to remain here.”  
  
Jared didn’t like this at all.  The fae didn’t give full names.  Names had power and only the extremely powerful or the stupid gave them out with impunity.  He knew better than to think it was a request though.  “Kane and Carlson stay on him,” Jared shouted out to the two closest men.  That they happened to be his best men wasn’t a coincidence.  
  
He pulled out his cell phone and dialed the already programmed number.  He hated dealing with liaisons.  Most were as nasty as the fae when it came to dealing with humans.  He wasn’t sure if it was simply in their nature to hate people or if their association with the fae had created it, but most court liaisons were a pain in the ass.  At least it was Cortese.  She knew what Jared did and knew how necessary it was.  When he had need of something from the fae she had always come through for him.  Even if she still kept her nose in the air.  
  
“Cortese.”  
  
Her no nonsense voice came over the line and Jared would have smiled if it weren’t for the dead body and the fae kneeling in the middle of his crime scene.  “Genevieve,” he knew enough about the fae to invoke her first name as a sort of familiar protection.  She might be human, but she thought a lot like the fae.  “I have a problem.”  
  
“Jared Padalecki, I would hope you have a problem since you’re calling me at nine at night.  I should be at home already.”  
  
“But you aren’t so I’m not disturbing you.  I have a case and I was told to contact you regarding it.”  
  
“What’s happening?”  
  
“I can’t say much, but I’m on the scene and there is a fae here.  He said to contact you and tell you he wants to remain on the scene.  I can’t let him stay, you understand that.”  
  
“Did he give you anything to identify him with?”  
  
“Jensen Ackles.”  
  
“Ackles is there with you?”  
  
There was fear in her voice and Jared turned around to look at the fae, still kneeling in the dirt path where he’d been left.  “Yes.”  
  
“Then you let him do what he wants.  Listen, Jared.  I know you move around the marginal, picking up information from the fae-wannabes.  So you know the rumors about the Ghost, the fae they all fear, the one who polices them.  His real name is Jensen Ackles.”  
  
“You’re kidding me…”  
  
The fae stood then, turning to look at Jared.  The hood of his sweater covered his face until he pushed it back, revealing the most beautiful man – fae – Jared had ever seen.  And he was the Ghost, the most powerful fae in the world.  It was said he only bowed down to the Queen of the Seelie court.  It was whispered that he only bowed because he chose to.  
  
For the most part, society tried to ignore the impact the fae had on their lives.  It crept up in ways no one wanted to admit, like clothes styles and particular expressions, but the fae had made their dislike of humans known and humans tried very hard to dislike them right back.  Except the marginals who worshipped them like gods.  They were on the fringe of society and only the most notorious of fae would have anything to do with them.  Or the Unseelie court, which amounted to just about the same thing.  Jared wasn’t a marginal, but he did move in their circles to learn what he could.  No one knew rumors better than the Unseelie and the Unseelie loved to spill their dirt to the lowly marginals that no one would believe anyway.  Except Jared.  
  
The Ghost was their favorite rumor; hero and bedtime story and nightmare all rolled up into one creature.  He was supposed to be the most beautiful fae in the world, the most powerful, and the most mysterious.  No one would say why but he had no alliance with the Seelie or Unseelie court.  The only outward alliance that was known was his alliance to Queen Danneel of the Seelie court.  Those that spoke of it sometimes called him her Rottweiler.  They always followed it with allusions to animals turning on those that tried to hold their chains.                 
  
The Ghost was nothing Jared understood.  He policed the fae in ways that human courts would never condone and it sent a shiver down his spine to wonder what he was doing at this crime scene.    
  
“I don’t know the details but he’s been tracking something and the Queen is inclined to let him.  So unless you want to present yourself before the Seelie court with a good reason why you can’t work in cooperation with the only fae who is willing to try to keep the fae from using magic against humans, then I suggest you find a way to make this work.”  
  
“So he’s not here officially but I can’t ask him to leave because the Queen will see it as an insult?”  
  
“So there is a reason a void like you became head of a DMI unit,” It was a snide, backhanded compliment but that was what happened when you worked with the fae for too long. He bit his tongue and hung up, declining the customary good-bye he would have given anyone else.  He liked Cortese better than most liaisons but not by much.  
  
Jared took a deep breath as he tried to figure out what to do.  It didn’t help that green eyes were boring into him, waiting for him to come forward and break the silence.  The fae knew that he’d be given free reign, but Jared took comfort in the fact that he’d stayed with Jared’s men and didn’t make a fuss about it.  Like he respected Jared’s position at the crime scene.  He knew that couldn’t be why he did it, but if he was willing to work with Jared, just maybe they could figure this out, because even if the police hadn’t found magic yet, the fact that the Ghost was there meant there was something darker and more sinister at hand.  
  
He started walking forward then, strides confident and determined.  It was still his show, no matter who else was here and if the fae was willing to give him information he’d take it.  If he wasn’t, well then Jared was able to play that game too.  Being a void gave him a few advantages over those that were influenced by magic and a high immunity to the faes glamour and tricks of manipulation were one of those.  He wasn’t completely untouched by it, and he wasn’t stupid enough to leave off precautions, but there was a reason he saw the fae on the scene when none of the other DMI agents had.  Still, he slipped off the fingerless glove on his left hand and turned it inside out as he put it back on.  
  
The Ghost smirked.  
  
“Liaison Cortese has asked that we cooperate on this investigation,” Jared said as he stood in front of the fae.    
  
“That’s not what she said,” the Ghost said as he took a step closer.  He was shorter than Jared by a few inches but it made him want to puff his chest out to feel like the bigger man, like the dangerous one.  The fae seemed to know what was running through Jared’s mind and his eyes widened slightly, lit up with a dark humor that Jared didn’t want to understand.  
  
The fae were cruel to humanity, but they were crueler to one another.  He didn’t want to know what that darkness meant.  
  
“I can feel the lie,” he brought his fingers up to brush against Jared’s lips, “right here.”  
  
The fae ignored the sound of guns brought to bear on him, of safeties clicked off, and armed men ready to fire.  Jared swallowed hard but there was nothing any more intoxicating about the fae now than there had been.  His touch hadn’t been meant to harm or manipulate him.    
  
“At ease,” he told his men and was relieved when they put their weapons down after a second’s hesitation.  A second, because it was in that moment where they had to decide if their leader had been compromised by the fae’s touch.  
  
He decided to be honest then, because he didn’t have much of a choice.  It was never a good idea to let the fae get the upper hand – which they normally did.  “Cortese said I should cooperate with you.  She said you’d been hunting something.  My men and I just arrived on the scene and as far as the local LEOs are concerned, no magic was used here.  So I think maybe we could help one another out.”  
  
“You want to work with me?”  There was honest surprise in the fae’s eyes and Jared nodded.  
  
“I want to solve this case.  A man is dead with anti-fae marks on the bullet.  He worked for the local liaisons.  And the Ghost is at my crime scene.  There is something happening and I want to get to the bottom of it before someone else dies.”  
  
“The Ghost,” the fae hissed as he took a step back.  “You’re marginal?”  
  
Jared held up his hands because the anger in the fae’s eyes was enough to hammer him in place.  “I know the marginals.  I go to them when I need information or leads.  I keep up on their rumors.  I’d be stupid not to take advantage of the only source of fae information I have.”  
  
Jared wasn’t sure if he had placated the fae or not but he stepped closer again in a way the fae never did.  He looked at Jared, long and hard, and then nodded.  “Call me Ackles.”  He stepped back then and looked around the ground where he’d been kneeling before.  “I have files I can show you when we’re done here.  The fae don’t keep such things, but it seemed a good system to me.”  
   
Ackles knelt on the ground again and looked up at Jared.  The other men had moved away from the two of them to canvas the neighborhood and look for any other clues so they were mostly alone.  It filled Jared with a certain dread and a hint of excitement.  He wasn’t a marginal, but he did have a fascination with the fae that went beyond protocol.    
  
“I was trying to ascertain what type of magic was used at the scene.  The man’s death was by bullets, I know, but he was held by bonds that originated here.  I can’t get a taste of it now though, not with the stink of iron in the air.”  
  
Jared knew what he was asking and he didn’t think twice as he pulled out his iron knife.  
  
“Promise me that you won’t use your glamours on me, that you will treat me with respect, and you will not harm me with your magic.”  
  
He was offering to lower his protection and he couldn’t do that without the fae’s reassurances.  Ackles smiled up at Jared, his perfect white teeth reflecting eerily in the moonlight.  “I promise to treat you with respect.  I will not use glamour or try to manipulate you with magic.  And I will not harm you with magic, not unless you ask nicely.”  
  
There was that dark humor again and Jared repressed the shudder that wanted to run up his spine.  Instead he dropped to his knee and buried the blade of his iron knife into the ground.  Ackles’ eyes went wide and Jared just smiled.  The DMI didn’t teach them that.  The DMI didn’t teach them how to bargain with the fae to make themselves safe, but Jared taught himself the best he could, using the marginals and the Unseelie fae who’d been willing to teach.  Never for nothing, of course, and Jared had more than a few scars for his lessons, but he never thought of it as less than worth it.  The things he’d learned had kept him – and his men – alive because what Jared learned, he passed along to his team.  No matter how they looked at him for each bit of newfound information.

  
He watched as Ackles closed his eyes then, lips moving softly, not in incantation or power, but simple words that he couldn’t hear, the same sort of things Jared would say to himself when looking for a lost trail.    
  
With his eyes closed, Jared could watch Ackles more closely, though he didn’t doubt the fae would know he was doing it.  Jared had never seen someone of the Seelie court with freckles before.  It didn’t detract from his beauty but made him seem more … human … for it.  His lips were full, the pink of rose petals in the soft morning light, and his skin was pale like the dark brethren of the Unseelie but seemed to emanate a golden hue the way the Seelie court was wont to do.  He wore human clothes as if he was accustomed to them and Jared thought they suited him better than the airy costumes or the antiquated armors of the fae courts would.    
  
Jensen’s stopped moving, his back straighter as he opened his eyes and looked at Jared.  “There was magic here.  It was well hidden, but it’s like the others.  It was either a weak fae or a strong human casting the spell, but I’d bet it was fae.”  
  
“Why?”  
  
“They used shade.  If I wasn’t adept at its use then I might not have felt it at all.”  
  
Shade.  The fifth element that humans tended to have little to do with.  There was some sort of natural barrier between humans and the shade, the ethereal element that was the moment of creation and change, the dynamic of water meeting fire, of heat meeting cold, of shadow and light, of pleasure meeting pain.    
  
Even the fae used it as little as possible.  It was a powerful element but the very nature of it was unpredictable and its use in even the simplest spells could backfire if the user wasn’t skilled.  Few took the dangerous path to learn it.  That the Ghost – Ackles – did, said something about him.    
  
“So we have a fae holding people in place while someone shoots liaisons with anti-fae markings carved on the bullets.”  
  
“Plenty of the Unseelie would find humor in that sort of prank,” Ackles offered as he watched Jared.  
  
Jared was looking over at the body though, at the angle and the nature of his wounds.  “There was someone else here.”  He looked at Ackles.  “Would one of the Unseelie work with a human to murder someone?”  
  
Ackles let out a huff of a laugh and it was so human Jared didn’t have time to school his expression to keep the curiosity from showing.  
  
“What?” Ackles asked.  
  
“You’re just … not what I expected.”  
  
The fae looked at him for a minute, like he was sizing Jared up, but then he smiled.  “You’re human.  I’m fae.  I think it’s probably a good thing I’m not what you expected.  And to your question, the Unseelie would work with anyone if it got them what they wanted.”  
  
“So it’s possible a fae was working with a human.  So we have the victim running through the park when hes caught by the fae in bonds of shade and held for a human attacker to shoot him with the gun.”  
  
“You’re assuming the shooter is human.”  
  
“I am, because the bullets were iron and the fae would have had to load them.  Considering your reaction to iron, it makes sense that the fae was working with a human.”  
  
Ackles nodded.  “Alright, but it’s still just as assumption.”  
  
“Just like we’re assuming the spell caster was Unseelie fae.”  
  
Ackles looked at him for a few seconds, licking his lips and Jared had to take a deep breath and swallow hard.  Jesus, he was better than this.  He’d never had a problem when he’d had to make himself seen among the fae.  Why was this guy getting to him so much?  
  
“Come on back to my place.”  
  
“Excuse me?”  
  
“Your men have this under control.  I think you need to see the other files and I have them at my place.”  
  
Jared took a look around and realized that Ackles was right.  They didn’t need another DMI agent walking the park tonight and if Ackles had something more on the killer – if there had been more than one killing to fit this MO – then Jared needed to see what it was.  
  
“Yeah, alright.  Give me ten to talk to my men.”  
  
Ackles nodded as Jared left to find Carlson and Kane.  They were talking to the locals until Kane elbowed Carlson to get his attention and nodded to where Jared was walking.  They made their excused and met Jared part way.  
  
“Why is the fae still here?” Kane asked without preamble.  
  
One of the things Jared liked most about Chris Kane was his straightforward personality.  It wasn’t always the best when they were working, but he never pulled his punches and you knew where you stood with him.  “I’m working with him.”  He held his hands up to forestall any comments.  “Liaison’s office said to give him some cooperation and he seems like he might actually be willing to share with us puny mortals.  Seems this isn’t the first kill he’s seen like this.  I’m going to take a look at the files he’s kept on the other victims so hold down the fort for me.  And get someone who can read shade down here to check out the area the fae is working.  He said someone was working there, that the victim was held by shade while he was shot.”  
  
“So it is a DMI case, and not just politics,” Carlson said with a nod.  Carlson was one of the most laid back people Jared knew, but he had a keen eye and had been slated for a political career since he was born.  Steve never let anyone tell him what to do though so at seventeen he’d up and joined a band, travelling the country until he’d gotten caught up in some dark trouble.  He didn’t talk about it but it had ended his band days and set him on a path to become one of the best detectives the DMI had.  And he still knew how to play the political game with the best of them.  
  
“Exactly.  So keep a sharp eye and call me if anything new comes up.”  
  
“You really think the fae are going to help us?” Carlson asked as Jared was about to walk away.  
  
“I don’t know,” Jared said with a sigh.  “But if this case is connected to others and he can tell me about them, then I’ll see what I can find out.”  
  
“He touched you.”  Kane said.  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
“You left your iron in the ground.”  
  
Jared hadn’t realized it until then, but Chris was right.  His iron knife, one of his layers of protection against the fae, was lying in the ground, buried in dirt to stop its effect on the fae.  It wasn’t the type of mistake he made and Jared began to feel the cloud of doubt about Ackles’ touch.  
  
“You’re sure about leaving with him?” Carlson asked.  
  
“Yeah, but at least you know who I left with if something goes wrong.  Cortese knows his name.”   Ackles had given his name to Jared freely but that wasn’t permission to give it to others and Jared knew that.  They needed to know how to get it though, should Jared get into trouble.  “Keep your eyes up,” he said with a final nod, then walked back over to Ackles.  
  
“You’re ready?” the fae asked.  
  
“Sure. How do we get to your place?”  
  
Ackles stepped closer to Jared, wrapping his arm around Jared’s waist.  “Do you trust me?”  
  
“Absolutely not.”  
  
Ackles’ laughed.  “Perfect.”  
  
Jared felt the world spinning around him too late to do anything about it.  The Ghost was wrapping shade around them, pulling them through shadows in a blur too fast to make out.  When the world stopped spinning Jared found himself dumped on the ground, momentarily blind to the world.  
  
***  
  
Jensen stood in the middle of his spacious apartment and watched as the DMI agent tried to gain his senses back.  The shade always took something from humans travelling her ways and Jensen could feel the thrill of pain/pleasure as Padalecki’s panic set in, made all the sweeter by the brave façade the agent gave off.  If Jensen had been anyone else, he would never have known the fear that almost paralyzed the man before him.    
  
“You’ll be fine in a moment.  Traveling in shadow always takes something in payment.”  
  
Mumbled curses were uttered but Jensen just smiled as he watched the agent get his knees under him.    
  
“Everything the fae do takes payment.  You said you wanted to stop this killer, but I don’t think you told me what your payment was going to be for letting me have the information.”  
  
Jensen smiled.  Padalecki wasn’t stupid, even if Jensen had been able to throw him off guard enough to leave the iron behind.  He would have asked him to leave it behind if he’d demanded on bringing it – traveling with shade was hard enough without iron to work around – but it was more fun to see if he could befuddle the man enough to leave it.    
  
He was headed back towards the blade when Jensen had approached him though and Jensen had to admit that Padalecki kept his wits about him pretty well.  It was a relief since he’d begun to doubt his abilities once he realized the agent was part of the marginal human crowd.  He claimed to use them for the tidbits they were given by the Unseelie but it was hard to know if a man in the DMI was using the marginals for their information, or if he was using the DMI to get access to a fae obsession.  He wouldn’t be the first human to do it and he wouldn’t be the last so long as the magical border between the two races remained down.  
  
“If I had wanted anything I would have told you the price,” Jensen reassured him.  “You know my name.  I’m not likely to give you reason to hunt me, Agent Padalecki.”  It was a little reminder that Jensen still didn’t know his full name, that the agent was playing it safe and Jensen himself was giving him the upper hand.  Truth be told, it wasn’t entirely honest.  There were few fae alive that could come after Jensen and survive it, let alone a human.  It was the only reason he was still alive.  The Seelie and Unseelie courts would have torn him apart when his powers came into bloom if he hadn’t been as strong as he was.  
  
“I’ll believe that when my bones are nothing but dust.  If you haven’t come for a price by then, I’ll believe it.”  
  
It was an old saying, people that knew of the fae knew that the price they asked wasn’t always the one you agreed to and Jensen just smiled with it.  He leaned down and placed a hand on Padalecki’s arm, taking a deep breath as the panic of the agent’s blindness continued to feed through his body.    
  
Jensen was a practitioner of shade, a creature whose powers were dark by nature.  He’d been raised in the Seelie court, hidden from the eyes of his mother and father as punishment for their uncouth coupling.  Beautiful even among the Seelie, Jensen had been raised with their power and their sensibility, however when his abilities began to show, he’d been cast into the Unseelie court.  No creature of the Seelie had the powers of pain as he had.  His hungers for the darker pleasures made him unwelcome among his father’s people, but his father’s looks made him unwelcome with the lower creatures.  Jensen was never part of either court, always tossed to the corner because of his birthright and his very nature, up until he gained control of his powers and became feared by them all.  
  
Feeling Padalecki’s pain was sweeter than he’d imagined it would be.  Jensen wasn’t above taking a marginal to his bed when he needed some release – he did follow his Unseelie brethren in that aspect – but humans weren’t as solid as the fae, couldn’t take the pain that the fae could, or the pleasure.  Jensen enjoyed both and there was something about the agent, about his lack of outward show of disorientation, that made Jensen think maybe he could take what Jensen had to offer.

  
Jensen let the flow of shade subside then, giving Padalecki his vision once again.  He helped him to his feet before letting go of his arm and releasing the last of the turmoil of emotions that Padalecki gave off.  It was intoxicating in ways Jensen couldn’t remember feeling before.    
  
As soon as the revelation hit, he took a step away from the agent.  Magic had a way of forcing its hand at times and anything out of the ordinary – especially after a use of shade – was to be noted.  He nodded towards the kitchen on their left.  “Water in the fridge if you need it.  I’ll find the files we need.”  
  
The agent nodded, but Jensen could see that he was checking out the studio.  It was large and open, nothing hidden behind walls except the bathroom back by his bed.  Dark furnishings and dark curtains kept the place in perpetual night.  Candles lined the walls and tables, and though Padalecki couldn’t see it protective runes were painted underneath the top coat on the walls.    It was his sanctuary and no one – no one – knew where it was or how to get in.  It was untraceable and he only travelled with shade to get there.  He ignored the oddity that he’d brought a DMI agent there, ignored the pull to push him across the room and see how he’d look spread out on dark sheets, begging for Jensen’s mercy.    
  
He stood in front of his office desk and found the files easily enough.  Most of the fae continued to live in their hills as if the modern world hadn’t found them, but to Jensen who had never been welcomed in either court, humans were no more or less offensive than his brethren.  He felt more at home in the high rise apartment than he did in the bows of the earth though and with the exception of shade magic, he wasn’t one to mistrust his instinct.  
  
He was comfortable here, with his modern technology surrounded by the trappings of his archaic homeland.  He found beauty in the flawless line of the computer screen as he researched human archives or the look of beeswax candles thrown casually into modern containers for easy access when he needed to do spell work.  
  
When he turned around Padalecki was watching him.  He was leaning against the large kitchen table, drinking from a bottle of water, another in his other hand.  Jensen really wanted to get his hands on that glorious neck but there was only so much willpower he had and if he touched the agent again he wouldn’t be able to help himself.  Instead he tossed the files on the table.    
  
Padalecki sat his water down, handing Jensen the sealed water bottle without looking away from the first file he opened.  Jensen took the bottle in surprise, and then moved across the table to sit across from him.  He cracked the seal and took a long drink of water, watching the agent.  
  
“Anne Brandon.  Jason Tomo.  Steven Pauls.  Alexander Scotts.  Jesus, why haven’t I heard about these?”  Jared asked as he looked up at Jensen.    
  
The gaze was almost accusatory and it would have riled Jensen up if anyone else looked at him that way, but there was a killer to stop and as much as Jensen hated to admit it, he wasn’t getting anywhere.  He hadn’t planned on being seen at the crime scene tonight but the agent had been smart enough to be thrice protected – at least until Jensen convinces him to let go of the iron – and he decided to roll with it.  Besides, the guy seemed to know what he was doing and if nothing else he was good on the eyes, especially for a human.  
  
“The local LOEs didn’t want DMI coming in to take over their investigations.  Three of them fell under the same precinct.  I believe you know the chief, Kripke?”  The agent snorted out his disdain and Jensen couldn’t help but agree.  The guy was a good cop but he didn’t like anyone’s help.  Jensen had no idea how he managed to rise to the rank of Chief with that sort of politics but he was there anyway. Except maybe the fact that his step son, Matt Cohen, was on the fast track for DA if the human rumors were right.  Maybe his son was pulling strings that Kripke just didn’t have.  
  
“The other was from the same district we ran into tonight.  It’s probably why they called you in so fast.”  
  
“Damn it, I knew there was something more to it all.”  
  
“Yeah.  All four of the murders – five counting tonight’s – were aimed at people in low positions within the fae inclusion movement.  They all worked for different programs and different liaisons.  Other than the fact that they were involved in some small way with the fae inclusion movement, I see no reason why they would be targets of the same killer.”  
  
“And the MO’s matched?”  
  
“The only thing that was different at the scenes was the use of different elements to bind the victims.  I don’t know if they were building up to the use of shade, or if the killer is simply using all five of the elements.”  
  
“And if he’s using all five it could be a larger ritual than what we’re seeing here.”  
  
“It could.  I don’t think it’s ritualistic enough for something like that, but I’m not ready to discount it yet.”  
  
“What are you ready to discount?” Padalecki asked.  
  
Jensen thought of all the things he could say to that but decided that honesty was really the better policy tonight.  He’d kept the agent off balance on purpose and it was time to do it again, but with the reality of the situation.  “That I can figure this out on my own.”  
  
“And you think a mere mortal can help you?”  There was open skepticism on Padalecki’s face but Jensen understood.  Few people who worked with the fae would believe them capable of trusting a human to that degree.    
  
“I’ve got five murders and an angry Queen to deal with if I don’t find the killer soon.  I’ve got a DMI agent in my home when I’ve never allowed a single creature to know that I have a home.  I’m not like the other fae.”  
  
“No, you’re more dangerous.”  
  
“I am,” Jensen said with a smile.  “That doesn’t make me wrong.”  
  
“It doesn’t make you trustworthy.”  
  
Jensen laughed and there was something in the agent’s eyes then, like Padalecki was laughing as well even if there was only the hint of a smile curling up the corners of his lips.  He wanted to jump over the table and trace those lips with his tongue, to taste his mouth and swallow his moans, but what he had here with Padalecki tonight was worth more than a night of screams and pleading moans.  What he had, he thought, was something he could build on.  
  
What he had was an alliance.    
  
The Ghost didn’t do human alliances any more than he did fae alliances but sometimes fate didn’t give you a chance.  It didn’t give you the choice of who to play with and how to play with them.  Sometimes it just threw you into the lion’s den and told you to survive.  With Padalecki he thought he just might.  
  
He raised his water bottle to the agent and put on his very best smile.  “This, Agent Padalecki, looks like the start of something miraculous.”  
  
Padalecki nodded his head, taking a small drink of water as well.  And damn if Jensen didn’t think he was right.  If the Ghost and DMI could find a way to co-exist, just maybe there was hope for humans and the fae after all.   


**

Jared didn’t remember getting home that night.  Something about the last few minutes of his conversation with Ackles made him believe that the fae hadn’t allowed anyone else in his home and Jared didn’t blame him for wanting to keep the location secret.  

  
He didn’t like knowing that Jensen had manhandled him out of his clothes and into his bed but there were worse things that could happen.  He woke well rested, which was different than most nights when he got called to a murder scene so he was back in the office before the others, case files pulled on the four murders that Ackles had shown him.  Copies were on the desks of his team as well when they made it in.    
  
Kane was first, as usual.  His intensity came from experience.  His sister had been a marginal and her story – her life – had ended badly.  Chris took it all personal and he’d asked to be transferred from the military special ops to DMI.  He wasn’t the sort of man to hate the fae because of what happened, but he had a healthy mistrust of them and was a hell of a fighter.  He was Jared’s right hand man and had the sort of whip-crack mind that made connections Jared didn’t.  
  
Carlson strolled in last, his usual easy going attitude gone in the wake of an unsolved murder.  Between them came the rest of the crew.  Tal and Abel came in together, carting a dozen coffee cups between them.  They set two on Kane’s desk and three on Beaver’s.  It didn’t make Beaver any less grumpy when he came in but the oldest member of their team seemed to get less easily agitated the more caffeinated he was.  McCoy, Milton, and Murray were all in somewhere between Jared walking off to get a call from the coroner and coming back with the confirmation of the cause of death.  
  
“We got any real connection between these guys?” Alona asked as she tossed a file to her desk.  Jared had given them time to read the new files and Alona was the first to break the eerie silence.  With the nine of them in the same space it was never that quiet.  This was a lot of death though and they were behind in the game.  
  
“Just the cause,” Beaver sniped.  They were used to his grump but what he lacked in sociability he made up for in obscure knowledge, a tenacity for research, and a protective nature that gave him an instinctive bond with each of the team members that no one, fae included, knew how to explain.  
  
“Maybe they just dislike bureaucrats.  Looks like Carlson is our killer,” Murray smiled brightly at Carlson as he got up and sat on the edge of Carlson’s desk.    
  
Carlson stood up long enough to smack the back of Murray’s head.  Kane snorted but quieted them all down.  “Just because we don’t know anything yet doesn’t mean it isn’t there.  No one was looking for connections between them-”  
  
“I was.”  
  
Jared spun around to face the voice coming from the corner behind his desk.  Ackles was standing in the shadows.  “What the hell?”     
  
“You might want to put a lamp back here to get rid of the shadows.  It makes it too easy.”  
  
“Have you ever thought of using the door?” Jared asked, ignoring the fact that half his team had guns pulled on the fae and he could hear the mumbling of spells ready to be unleashed.  
  
Jensen laughed.  “I wouldn’t be a very good ghost if I used the door, now would I?”  
  
“Padalecki?” They all knew better than to give away first names to a fae and Jared looked over his shoulder at Tal before nodding at her.  They all took the hint and backed off, but none of them eased off completely.  
  
“This is Ackles,” Jared said as he nodded to the team.  “He’s the one that was kind enough to share information with us.”  
  
“A bit unlike your kind, isn’t it?” Kane asked.  
  
Jensen just smiled.  “There is no other like me, so it’s just like my kind.”  
  
“Are you here for a reason, or just to harass my team?” Jared asked, trying to keep himself as the focus of Ackles’ attention.  He didn’t want to fae to decide to take offense at any of his teammates.  
  
“Well gorgeous, I was trying to see if you’d come up with anything but apparently mere mortals sleep late.”  
  
“That would be your fault,” Jared reminded Jensen.  
  
“I can start compiling a list of places they frequented and see if anything pops up between them,” Milton interrupted, pulling Jared away from the fae.  
  
“I’ll give you a hand,” Murray offered.  He might be a bit of a kid but Murray was good with a pattern and Jared nodded his agreement.    
  
“I’ll see what I can find out about this bond they’ve been using.  See if anything comes up with a ritual in the order of the bonding elements,” Beaver offered.  
  
“Carlson and I will check the neighborhoods again.”  
  
“Kane, take McCoy and Tal with you,” Jared said before the two agents could head out together.  
  
“Why?”  
  
“They’re cute.”  He had to bite his lip to keep from laughing at Alona’s face but the truth was that Kane and Carlson could get intense and the last thing they needed was them scaring people into being quiet.  “People will talk to them better than they will you.”  
  
“You using me for my body, Boss?” McCoy asked.    
  
“Absolutely,” Jared teased back.  “Abel-“  
  
“Going to see if there are any more murders that they fae didn’t catch before coming to us.  On it,” Abel said as he got up from his desk.  The others followed suite and Jared found himself suddenly alone with the fae.  
  
“You have a pretty efficient team,” Ackles commented.  
  
“The best.  Even if they are a pain in the ass most of the time,” He was smiling fondly though as he looked across the room into the conference room where glass walls gave him a view of Murray rifling through the drawers to find the right maps as Milton was pulling out pins and spreading the files out on the table to start working out the geography of the murders.  
  
“And yet you have nothing to do.  What does that say about you?”  
  
“That they don’t want to deal with a fae.”  
  
“You’re brave Padalecki.  Not many people say that to a fae.”  
  
“You’re not a fae.” Jared said as Jensen took a step closer.  
  
“No?  Then what am I?”  
  
“One of a kind,” Jared answered as he stepped away from Ackles.   “Come on.  If you want to make yourself useful you can come with me to talk to the latest victim’s nearest and dearest.”  
  
“You’re taking a fae to visit the family?”  
  
“If someone close to him was opposed to his cause you’ll get a better reaction than I will.”  
  
Ackles shook his head, but he was standing next to Jared a second later.  “Tell me where to go and I’ll get us there.”  
  
Jared shook his head, holding his keys out.  “My car.”  
  
“You don’t trust me?”  
  
“Not as far as I can throw you.  I’m sure we covered that last night.”  
  
The fae smiled but Jared thought he saw something like relief in Ackles’ eyes.  “I trust my life to the safety of your hands.”  
  
There was something almost formal in the words and Jared knew that he was being asked for something.  Jared would never hurt anyone without reason though so he found it easy enough to answer honestly.  “You never need to fear for your safety with me.”  
  
Ackles watched him closely then nodded.  “Then lead the way.”  
  
Jared did, but with a growing pit in his stomach.  It was going to be a long day.  
  
**  
  
Jensen hated formality.  When he’d been younger he didn’t understand how stifling it could be.  Maybe that was the reason the Seelie court kept themselves to such strict formalities all the time, for fear that they would become something wild and dark like their Unseelie cousins.  It wasn’t something Jensen liked to think about.  He had believed he was Seelie up until he had come into his powers.  He’d understood his unnatural birth, the riotous coupling of his mother and father and the onslaught of fear and hatred that had been directed at them for it.  Fae births were rare though and so Jensen’s life had been safe in his mother’s womb.  He had been taken from her then and still had no idea if he’d ever set eyes on her.  His father was a secret unknown to him as well.  

  
He had believed though that his Seelie blood had run true, as had the others.  He had been pale of face and graceful in his movements, elegant and well spoken, and pleasing to the eyes.  If the Queen made comment about the darkness behind his eyes from time to time no one else did.  She had been right of course.    
  
When his powers had come he’d done his best to hide them, to show only the side of pleasure that he could give with the touch of his hand.  His gift wasn’t like that though.  Like the shade that he was so capable with, his power was about balance and he couldn’t have the pleasure without the pain.  The cravings grew too strong, too dark, and his secret had come out – violently – for everyone to witness.  
  
The Unseelie court weren’t kind to him.  He was a reminder of the Seelie, their brethren that would never accept them and that they couldn’t fathom.  It was among the Unseelie that he learned to control himself though, that he learned to accept the dark beauty of pain and how to wield both sides of his gift.  It was with the Unseelie that he became the Ghost, feared and hated by the courts.  


It helped him, the memory, to stand a little straighter as he stood waiting outside the doors of the great hall.  The clothes made him itch, tunic and trousers of the fae rather than the jeans and tee shirts he’d become so used to among the humans.  He didn’t want to come to the Queen with a confrontation today though; he was simply coming to report to her.  She didn’t like the time he was wasting on human murders but she was afraid to tell him to stop.  It wasn’t the first argument he’d had with her and it wouldn’t be the last but he expected today to go less than pleasantly.  She wouldn’t be happy that he was working with humans but if Padalecki’s team could put something together he welcomed the help.  
  
The doors opened and a fae he knew by sight but not name came forward.  “The Queen grants you permission to see her now, Jensen Ackles.”  
  
Jensen snorted at the fae’s need to let on that he knew his name.  Everyone knew Jensen’s name.  He didn’t need the fae reminding him, any more than he needed to tell the fae that not knowing his name wasn’t likely to save him if Jensen came looking for him.  
  
The fae was smart enough to turn abruptly and walk away rather than take offense at Jensen’s reaction.  
   
Jensen followed through the Glittering Halls with his head up high and his powers wrapped tightly around him.  It made the fae uncomfortable to see the way shade wrapped around his body, the tendrils of it licking at his fingers in a dark imitation of a human pet.  It probably said something about him, the form that the shade took when he called it without a form in mind but he didn’t try to settle it into something else.  It made the others step back even further and he simply let his smile broaden as the shade draped out across the floor, still touching the edges of their pretty clothes, giving Jensen the taste of their anxiety.  
  
He might not like the Seelie court, but there were definite advantages to being there sometimes.    
  
He walked quickly through their ranks until he was at the foot of the raised dais where the Queen waited.  “My Queen,” he said softly as he bent to one knee.  
  
“Ghost,” she whispered name though everyone in the hall knew the name she addressed him with.  It was a way to remind him that he wasn’t a part of their world, that he often chose to show himself in the trappings of human culture rather than either court.  There was nothing overly cruel in her voice yet though.  
  
He looked up at her, cold and beautiful, pale skin and long hair the color of autumn leaves, eyes that could laugh in humor or torture with just a look.  She was everything the Seelie court could be.    
  
“Have you come to lick my heels or to tell me why you’re away from your Queen once again?”  
  
He looked down then, aware that whatever happened there would be a reprimand at the end of it.  He just hoped it was something he could be done with quickly.  He had a case to get to and he wanted to check back in with Padalecki to see if his team had come up with anything.  
  
“There was another murder.”  
  
“A human again.”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“And you still haven’t finished your little quest to find the killer?”  
  
He bit his bottom lip to keep from making a snide comment.  The Queen didn’t like his need to police the fae any more than she would like the fact that he was working with humans and she made it known whenever he came to court.  
  
He might not be afraid of the Queen like everyone else was, but he didn’t want to antagonize her.  When he did she felt a need to prove herself before the eyes of the fae and it always meant Jensen taking a beating to keep the peace.  
  
“We believe there are a few people working together to conceal their identities,” Jensen answered.  He wasn’t about to admit to the court that he thought one of the fae just might be working with a human.  No matter how much sense it made when he was talking to Padalecki, Jensen knew no one in the Glittering Halls wanted to hear it.  
  
“We?  I didn’t know you played well with others, pet?”  
  
He would have cursed the slip any other day, but he had little desire to see her temper flare and regardless of how she thought of him, he could actually hold his tongue.  “A human officer.  He was at the last crime scene.  I decided to let him see me so that his men could do the leg work as they say.”  
  
He wasn’t sure she’d believe him but he hoped that she was eager enough to avoid a confrontation as he was.  He’d been respectful, donned the Seelie clothes, and bowed at her feet.  He wasn’t sure if he could take much more when the need to stop a killer was beating in his veins.    
  
“Really?  You’ll have to let me know what you think of keeping a human pet, my pet.”  She beckoned him forward and as he settled on the dais at her feet, she let her fingers curl through his short hair, nails scratching over his scalp.  Shade billowed around the dais and he could feel the tremor in her legs as she tried not to shift away from the touch of his magic.  The fae were better at controlling the fifth element, but every person who touched magic left their feel in the making and when the shade curled around the Queen’s ankles, the dark power of pain licked at her legs.  She didn’t flinch away though.  Instead she curled her nails harder into his scalp to punish him for the display she needed to keep up.  
  
She had nothing else to say to him, it was obvious she had already dismissed his absence and had moved on to other court news.  She wasn’t about let him go though, not when she had him kneeling at her feet like a lap dog for all to see.  
  
“Thomas,” she called the fae who had led Jensen into the halls and he came forward without hesitation.  Jensen thought he just might have tried to press an advantage and come closer than was strictly proper to the Queen however a quick glance at Jensen stilled him.    
  
He let his eyes rove over the Seelie who watched and did his best to keep his emotions hidden behind a façade.  This had been his home once and these fae had taught him how to live among them.  He had once had friends and allies but they had all turned their backs on him when he’d been tossed to the Unseelie court.    
  
It had been fifteen long years since he’d erased them from his thoughts, that he’d learned to see them all as the enemies they were.  He’d been coddled as a child, taught that his fair face and graceful movements would keep him safe but the Unseelie had taught him the much harder lessons.  There was no such thing as a friend among the fae.  There were only alliances that held together so long as you had something someone else wanted.  So long as you had something they didn’t have the power to take.

Jensen was stronger than them all now, a child of both courts and welcome in neither, but their law said the strong ruled and no one was willing to make a fatal enemy of the Ghost.  They watched him closely, wondering if he would remember their slights when he’d come of age and they hadn’t understood just how powerful he would become.  They trembled now at the thought of it, of what he could do, of what they would do to keep him from turning on them the way they had on him.    
  
They trembled as he sat at the Queen’s feet because they knew that she was the most powerful fae to ever sit on the throne and none of them knew if she had the power to defeat him or not.  So they played games, kept their distance at times, and tried to court him at others, fear thick in their throats as they did.   If his display of submission to the Queen would keep the Seelie court from troubling him, he was more than willing to spend an hour on his knees.  
  
**  
  
Marginals were never hard to find.  Once you learned their habits it was easy to locate a nest where they waited for one of the fae to come among them.  There were a large variety of Unseelie who came to the nests.  At first the marginal had been unimaginative, creating their space on the tops of hills across the countryside, but the police found them fast and they were sent away before the fae could even find them.  Caves and forests soon became the favorite haunting grounds of the marginal, any wild place where they felt they would be left alone.    The first time Jared had been invited to a nest it had been in the middle of a fallow field.  Cornfields surrounded it and the nest had been secured in the hollow center.  Blankets were thrown about the ground and offerings were set on makeshift tables around the edges of the field to attract the fae.  
  
 It was before he’d joined the Department of Magical Interference.  He’d been in school then, pre-law with a major in preternatural psychology.  He’d met a marginal when he’d been doing fieldwork, a girl who’d become so obsessed with the fae that she’d stolen all her mother’s jewelry to offer as an incentive for the fae to come.  That sort of thing worked with the Unseelie who cared more about the appearance of the shining stones than the worth.  If the girl had known it she could have gone and gotten cheap cut colored glass and been just as good but she didn’t know that and neither had Jared back then.    
  
The world had gone crazy with magic a few years before Jared had been born, but he’d seen some of the worst of the fall out first hand.  The original chaos had been over relatively quickly.  A year after the fae and magic had been discovered humans had adapted to it and were learning to deal with it in everyday life.  There were other devastations though, not as quickly understood and not everyone learned to handle the world of magic.  Jared had never heard of a child who hadn’t adapted to the magic, but 2% of the population over the age of puberty hadn’t been able to adjust.  Some had been put on medication to sedate them enough to remain harmless if their manifested abilities had been dangerous and some were harmless enough, though they had every day trouble.  Jared’s mother had been that type.  She’d been stronger in fire than any other element but her power was weak.  When Jared was eight his mother had accidentally boiled the bath water when she’d lost control.  His baby sister had died and his mother committed suicide a month later, leaving Jared and his father alone to deal with their grief.  
  
Although his father never spoke it, Jared knew he’d been relieved when Jared had turned out to be a void.  His father had been strong, strong enough to keep up with a weaker fae so long as he was able to work with earth.  Jared still thought his own grounded nature had to do with his father’s need to be close to the element he favored.  He’d been a construction worker, a man who had dirty hands and a wide smile for everyone.  He’d been proud of Jared for going off to college and making something of himself and he’d been the only one who understood when Jared turned away from a promising career in law to join the DMI.  No one understood his need to protect people from magical injury – intentional or not – better than his father.  
  
He’d been drawn to the fae though, Jared couldn’t deny it.  He’d never saddled his sister’s death on them, though he knew that maybe he’d be one of the marginals if it wasn’t for that incident.  As it was, Jared had found a way to move through them, taking the information he found and using it for his own personal causes.  
  
Now, the marginals had found better ways to offer themselves up to the fae.  Jared walked through the halls of the mansion and barely noticed the elegant decorations that lined the walls.  The woman who lived there was an actress who had donated the place to the marginal of the city.  You wouldn’t know any of that if you weren’t part of them, but the ten acres the mansion sat on were carefully guarded to keep out the police and media.  
  
If anyone knew that Jared was DMI, they ignored it and he appreciated that.  He wasn’t the only law enforcement person that travelled the marginal but as far as he knew he was the only one that actively pursued cases against magical crimes.  It made the DMI unwelcome among the marginal.  
  
He felt a hand press into his and he smiled as a petite body pressed up against his side.  She was beautiful, whoever she was.  “They are making offerings to the Seelie tonight.  Will you be here?  I wouldn’t mind a partner.”  
  
“I might be,” he answered as he walked further into the room.  He knew what she was suggesting and he’d been party to more than one orgy dedicated to the Seelie.  They never came.  They weren’t interested in the carnal pleasures but the higher Unseelie seemed more likely to visit if they were dedicated to the Seelie.  They were generally the Unseelie who could almost pass as Seelie, except for extra appendages or the smeared appearance of their skin that always looked dirty.  He didn’t know how long he needed to stay for tonight though so he didn’t want to offend anyone.    
  
“Do you need someone to show you around?”  
  
He wrapped an arm closer around her shoulder, pulling her against him without answering.  Jared could walk the halls with his eyes closed without bumping the walls but he wasn’t willing to give up a guide for the night’s events and he wasn’t willing to lie either.  The fae knew a lie and the power of it clung to the person speaking it.  If one of the Unseelie came they would know him for the lie he spoke.    
  
Untruths and half-lies were the currency of the fae though.  
  
She took his silence as permission and curled her arm around his waist, leading him through the back doors.  The first acre of the garden behind the house was a cultivated walkway with arches of blooming flowers and ivy.  Tall trees lined the garden and there was a great flourish of gold and reds and autumn colored flowers, as if mortals could recreate the Glittering Halls.  Stone tables lined the back of the house for gifts to the fae and there were other basins throughout the grounds that you could leave offerings to as well.    
  
Jared let the girl walk them past all that.  It was the formal part of the garden, the place they believed the Seelie would want to see, if they ever made themselves available.  Once they passed the cultivated gardens, the grass walkways gave way to wildflowers and tall grasses.  Jared could see people there, blankets tossed haphazardly to the ground.  They weren’t all alone and not everything in the grass was human.  He saw a brownie and a punka sitting among humans and he cringed as he watched a bloodletting with a creature he couldn’t see well enough to identify.  The fae always demanded some price at it wasn’t always jewels that caught their attention.    
  
“Are we going someplace special darlin’?” Jared asked as the girl took him past the grasses.  
  
“Something special to see,” she said with a grin.  “He rarely comes, but if you haven’t seen him then you’ve never seen beauty before.”  
  
He had a bad feeling in his gut but he kept going anyway.  He wanted to get information and while the rest of his team was winding it up back at the office, Jared was here.  He couldn’t leave until he’d talked to a few of the regulars.  
  
The girl was practically wrapped around him as they made their way to the tree lined border of the woods.  There were clearings every so often for people to perform their rites and dance their rounds but Jared ignored them all as he followed.  The girl didn’t talk and Jared didn’t try to start conversation.  Whatever she was taking him to see, she was practically vibrating against him in excitement.    
  
He heard a woman’s soft moans just as his guide slowed down, moving quietly into a small copse hidden off the main path.  She didn’t step into the main part of it, but crawled over to a place where the bushes and grasses had been beaten down by repeat visitors.  The copse gave the illusion of privacy but offered more than one spot to watch the show.  
  
The woman in the clearing had a mask over her face, long blond hair falling behind her shoulders where her arms were tied over her head to a post that was nailed into the tree.  He could see the way the dark tendrils of shade moved over her body, making her squirm.  It settled uneasily in him, anxiety making his pulse race and his breathing harsh.  The woman screamed in pain as the magic settled over her stomach, crawling up her torso to her bare breasts.    
  
Dark laughter filled the air and Jared closed his eyes before he could see the fae walk into the center of the circle.    
  
“You wanted to play tonight.  Do you rescind your offer?”  
  
“No,” she gasped and Jared swore he could almost feel the pain rolling from her, tinged with bittersweet pleasure.    
  
“Good because I’m not done with you yet.”  There was so much promise in the words and as she cried out again Jared ground the heel of his palm into his groin to relieve the pressure that was building.  He’d seen this sort of thing before and it had never got to him.  Pain wasn’t this thing but he knew the fae, especially the Unseelie, would keep a human begging for hours before they’d give them the release they wanted.    
  
“Please,” she begged and Jared opened his eyes at the same time Ackles moved forward and placed his hand on her pale skin.  Jared’s breath caught as Ackles leaned in, whispering in her ear.  His fingers curled into her skin and Jared could see the smoky wake of shade pressing into her.  Her head was thrown back and Jared nearly screamed with her.  He didn’t know when it had happened, but a hand was on his cock and Jared thrust up into the girl’s fist without thinking.  The woman tied to the tree was getting more desperate and Jared could feel his ache for release growing with her.    
  
Ackles pulled away from her but the dark magic between them remained.  He cocked his head to the side and Jared could imagine the heat of his attention as if it was truly trained on him.  He felt the pull of pleasure and as Ackles stepped forward and to the side of the woman, he leaned into her ear and spoke clear enough that Jared could hear.  
  
“Come,” he ordered, his eyes tracking away from her to reach Jared.    
  
He stifled a cry but his body obeyed the order just the same, coming over the girl’s hand with Ackles watching beside the writhing woman.  
  
Ackles smirked but swept in closer to the girl again, “Such a good pet,” he whispered into her ear before he pushed his power back into her, making her scream until she blacked out.    
  
Jared was trying to catch his breath, the power of his orgasm taking the strength from him.  The girl beside him was up on her feet though as Ackles came towards them.  He took her hand, still covered in Jared’s come, and put a single finger into her mouth.  She sucked it clean and then Ackles pulled her in for a demanding kiss.    
  
When he pulled away she was weak kneed and Ackles rested his forehead against hers for a moment, smirking as he did.  “Take care of my pet for me,” he said, nodding back to the woman tied to the tree.  
  
“Of course, Ghost,” she bowed her head in awe at his attention and Jared might have made a comment if something coherent would just come out of his brain.  
  
Ackles didn’t say anything to him, didn’t acknowledge his presence but wrapped his magic around himself and disappeared into the shadows.    
  
The girl with him was moving to the other marginal but Jared just fell back into the grass, trying to get his head around what he’d just seen.  What he’d just done.  Ackles was dark and Jared didn’t play with fire, but Jesus he could feel the burn already.    
  
His guide was long gone before Jared got his head back together.  He got his clothes done up and started to walk back towards the house to see if there was anyone who had information about the murder victims or any suspicious activity among the fae.  He couldn’t help but think of the way Ackles had looked at him though, eyes clouded and hungry.  They way he’d stolen Jared’s taste from the girl.  He knew he’d fall asleep that night, and many others, with the repeated image in his head.

**

  


Jensen sat down beside the body, ignoring the police around him.  DMI wasn’t at the scene yet but he knew they were on the way.  The locals still didn’t have a single layer of protection against glamour and Jensen didn’t feel the least bit guilty about tricking two of them into going off and make out under the bleachers.  He’d sent another to the coffee shop and was now happily sucking down the fruits of his labor.  The officer had no idea he’d gone and was getting chewed out for not having the perimeter secure yet.    
  
The body was like the others, two bullets in the body and one left on the ground beside it to show off the anti-fae markings.  The body was found in an out of the way path in a large city park whose fence backed up against the high school.  It was late at night and Jensen wanted to be anywhere but there.  He’d been trying to get more information about active anti-fae groups from the court liaisons but they were reluctant to talk to him.  They knew his form of justice and no one wanted to be accused of helping someone who took the law into his own hands, even if no one would ever dare accuse him of being a vigilante to his face.    
  
He heard the commotion behind him and smiled into his coffee cup as the scent of iron stung his nostrils.  He hadn’t seen Agent Padalecki since the night he’d gone to the nest and he’d left before even acknowledging what had happened.  He wasn’t entirely sure what to do about the agent.  If it was any other human, he’d have bedded him that night, taken his pleasure, and been done with it.  He wasn’t like the others though.  Padalecki was an ally and even though they had barely met, Jensen knew he was someone worth trusting.    
  
That was more problematic than a little spilled semen between species. When Padalecki had shown up at the last murder he’d felt the way his magic was drawn towards the man.  Magic was an instinctive art but more than that, humans were still learning that it was a living breathing medium that sometimes forced you to  do things you would never do on your own.  Like forging alliances you had no intention of making.  If there was anyone in the world that was aware of the problems that could cause, it was Jensen.  His parents had been a product of that sort of magical interaction and the world had suffered enough.  He had no intention of letting his own hand be forced.  
  
The thought didn’t keep his body from reacting to the proximity of the agent though, nor did his personal promise keep the shade he was using for his glamour from reaching out to touch the other man.  He could feel the apprehension in Padalecki’s steps, could feel it echoing in the consciously steady pace of his steps and the way each heel dropped heavily to the ground.  He felt a rush from the remembrance of the man’s pleasure.  Even from the other side of the circle Jensen had felt Jared’s approach.  He’d known the moment he realized the fae in the circle was Jensen.  And he’d felt the moment Padalecki began to get excited by what he was seeing.  
  
It wasn’t the woman’s screams that enticed him or the curve of her naked body.  He’d been aware of Jensen approach, but it wasn’t until Padalecki realized it was Jensen’s shade that was delving into her flesh that he’d been truly aroused.  Jensen still didn’t know what to make of that, but he wanted to make Padalecki scream, to hear him pleading and begging before Jensen turned his touch from pain to pleasure.  
  
The funny thing was that Jensen hadn’t planned on going to the mansion that night.  After three hours of stooping at the Queen’s feet though he’d felt the need to make someone else hurt.  He’d needed to let his passions run free so he’d found a human he could play with.  The woman was someone he’d played with before, someone who fed him information when she could, and he always rewarded her well for her service.  He’d needed to find release and she’d needed her reward.  The fact that Padalecki showed up was just coincidence but his timing had been perfect.  Jensen had been trying to decide if he was ready to let her go or not when the agent had turned up.  Jensen needed Padalecki to see what he was, to know exactly what his fingers ached to do to his sweet flesh.  The scent of the man’s seed spilled at the edge of his circle as he’d been working his shade through the girl had been too delicious and Jensen had given in then.  
  
He might have been able to put the moment off as nothing more than a need to take out his passions on another authority figure since the Queen was off limits – the logic was a bit of a stretch but Jensen was good at making things work for him – if he hadn’t felt the need to taste the agent so badly that he’d stolen his flavor from the lips of another.  He could still taste him on his tongue and he needed more.  
  
That need was why Jensen was staying put, not making the move he normally would have.  Padalecki was the only person in years that Jensen felt he could trust to watch his back.  It was terrifying and satisfying and all fucked up but he wasn’t about to mess the agent up with his base needs.    
  
He was about to comment on the iron when Padalecki buried his knife in the earth beside Jensen.  Padalecki’s body was tense as if he was ready to pull away at the slightest provocation but Jensen just turned his head slightly, smirking.  “I was beginning to think the DMI had decided to leave this murder to the locals.”  
  
He could see Padalecki’s scowl.  
  
“Anything you can tell me while the others are on the perimeter?”  
  
His voice was clipped, all business, but Jensen was expecting that.  He didn’t know what had been going through Padalecki’s head in that circle.  Did the man even know he had a taste for the darker passions?  Was he aware of what a fae could do with the pleasure/pain connection, a bit of shade, and some experience?  
  
“Same bullets,” Jensen said, deciding to play nice for now.  His need to get Padalecki under his hands warred too strongly with his need to keep him as an ally and safe from that aspect of himself.  “I was just getting ready to check the scene for signs of magic when your iron announced your presence.”  
  
“Alright.  Just tell me what you need.”      
  
Jensen turned to look at the agent then, a smile on his lips as the agent began to sputter and, Jesus Christ he was blushing.  “Oh don’t worry about that Agent Padalecki.  I’ll let you know the moment anything … comes up.”  
  
Yes, he knew his mouth got him into a lot of trouble but he couldn’t really regret it, not the way Padalecki’s eyes trailed to Jensen’s lips as his own mouth gapped open.  He was obviously trying to find something to say to that, but nothing was coming to him and in the end he just walked away, eyes a wide sort of horrified expression to them.    
  
Kane and Carlson were watching him a minute later and Jensen couldn’t help the smirk again as he realized Padalecki, while not afraid of him, seemed to be as affected by his presence as Jensen was by him.    
  
“Evening boys,” Jensen said, not trying to ingratiate himself into the group.  Of all the members of the team Kane and Carlson were the two that seemed the least likely to warm up to him.  He was pretty sure Murray was trying to get on his good side but it was hard to say with his sense of humor.  Beaver wasn’t exactly friendly but he’d at least asked Jensen’s opinion on a couple of things, a few of them not even part of the current investigation but problems he’d been trying to solve and wanted a fae’s opinion.    
  
“If you don’t mind, I need you to bury your iron so I can check the body.”  
  
They did as he asked, probably because Padalecki had already told them to.  Jensen took a deep breath and focused on the body then, pushing aside the men and women moving around the murder scene.  He couldn’t force away his awareness of Padalecki but he accepted that and worked around the space he was taking up in Jensen’s mind.  He could feel the bleed through, the combination of something worked into the body.  It was an odd combination of earth, wind, and fire and Jensen knew he’d seen the combination before.  He just couldn’t remember where.  
  
He cast his senses further away from the body and found the location of the spell work.  It wasn’t far, another ambush like its predecessors.  Jensen felt the press of the earth and fire and wind and stood up suddenly, looking straight to where Padalecki was standing.  
  
He didn’t say anything but Padalecki turned to look at him as if he knew Jensen needed him.  Jensen walked quickly to meet him in the middle of the scene.  “We have a problem.”  
  
“Please tell me we don’t have a copycat.”  
  
“No copycat.  It’s worse than that.”  
  
“What is it?”  
  
“Seelie.”  
  
“What?”        
  
Jensen took a deep breath as he tried to put together the sensation with a name but nothing came to him.  “I’ve been around the person who did the spell casting.  I don’t know who specifically, but I know where I came across them; The Seelie court.”  
  
“So, we not only have proof it was a fae, but proof it was one of the Seelie court?”  
  
Like any eyewitness statement in human law, Jensen’s word wouldn’t be enough to convict someone, but it would go a long way to making a case.  Especially someone so feared by the fae.    
  
“Yes.”  
  
“Shit.”  
  
“We need to see the Queen.  I need to be there for an audience with the court to see if I can find the killer there.”  
  
“Okay, when and how do we do that?”  
  
“Contact your liaison.  I could go to her now, but I’m sure you want it official?”  
  
“The first time I go to meet the Queen of the fae?  Yeah I want official protection before I step foot in the Glittering Halls.”  
  
Jensen smiled for a second, stepping closer to Padalecki.  “It’ll take more than iron, salt, and a little inside out work to protect yourself there.”  
  
“Isn’t that why I’m with you, Ackles?”  
  
Jensen took a step back and Padalecki seemed to realize the way his words could be taken because his eyes grew wider and his breath shortened.  Jensen felt the pit of his stomach drop but even then he knew he couldn’t turn and walk away without answering the question.  There was a tie between them, one that Jensen might have unknowingly started when he teasingly asked the human the same type of question when they met.  It didn’t mean anything from a human, even with magic.  It should mean even less from a void but Jensen had felt the weight of his words then.  Now, with Padalecki asking for his protection – even in a teasing way – Jensen couldn’t say no and couldn’t deny that he wanted to make Padalecki his in some way.  
  
He reached up, running his fingers through the agent’s hair before brushing his palm down the center of his face, fingers trailing over his features, down the bridge of his nose to stop momentarily on the soft flesh of his lips.  He lowered his hand until it stopped over the agent’s heart and whispered softly as he worked the bits of shade into his words, leaving a mark on Padalecki that any fae could see.  “You are under my protection,” the name came to him then as he pledged his life for the man.  It was an old bond and not something he could have planned but it fit tonight and no matter how much he was fighting to keep this a professional alliance, his needs to keep Padalecki close were confusing his judgment until he was acting without thought.  “Jared Padalecki, you are under my protection.  Not human nor fae may harm you without facing my wrath.  As I walk without fear in the fae realm and on earth, so may you.  Do you take my protection?”  
  
Padalecki licked his lips and swallowed hard as his eyes searched Jensen’s.  He couldn’t help himself as his hand slipped up Jared’s chest to rest against his throat, fingers tightening ever so slightly.    
  
“I accept your protection.”  
  
Jensen felt his knees weaken at the impact of his words but he held himself strong.  Few fae offered their protection to others and Jensen knew the risks it caused.  He just hoped he didn’t live to regret it more than he already did.  
  
“The question is does this mean you’ll protect me from you?”  
  
The question wasn’t flippant and for a moment, Jensen was standing in the circle again, staring at Jared as he brought himself to climax on the edge of Jensen’s pain.  He licked his lips, the taste of Jared still lingering in his memories.  “I would never hurt you, Jared,” he reassured.  “Not any more than you’ll want me to.”  
  
Padalecki took two steps back and Jensen knew not to follow.  He’d pushed too hard, followed up what had been too intense with an insensitive smirk but he didn’t want any of this and yet he still found himself acting in ways that he wanted.  He knew he wanted Jared, wanted to claim him in any way he could, but it wasn’t a good idea.  As a DMI agent he was too often taking on the fae and offering him protection was about as good a way of making himself a target as declaring himself King of the fae.  He was, undoubtedly, the rightful King since the fae were more about raw power than political maneuvering but he never wanted to be in that position.  He didn’t want the power and turmoil of ruling something as fluid as the fae and he knew that no one would follow him anyway.  If he made a play for the throne, the stronger fae would ally them until Jensen was dead at someone’s hands.  They might not be able to take him down on their own, but he could only stand against so many together.    
  
By offering Padalecki his protection he might have just shortened both their life expectancies.  He shivered as he felt Jared looking at him, eyes taking him in and heart racing as panic set in again.  Only one thing would be more soothing to his soul and that would be to make Jared squirm with his own hands.    
  
He took a deep breath and stopped that line of thinking.  He had a case to solve and the Queen to confront as soon as Padalecki could work it out.  He just had to remember it was work. It was all work and when it was done he would cut the connection between them.  As soon as the job was done.    
  
**  
  
“Just keep your mouth shut, Padalecki,” Cortese said as she stared at Jared.  “I know you’ve been to the court before but never like this.  You are representing the DMI and your entire race.  The Queen of the Seelie court rarely allows private audiences.  If you screw this up it won’t be a demotion or a slap on the wrist.  You asked to see her on her ground so it’s her rules.”  
  
He looked over at Jensen and couldn’t help but wonder about the words he’d spoke at their meeting the night before.  Jensen wasn’t looking at him but it made Jared all that more aware of how focused Jensen was on him.  He could feel something stirring between them and none of it felt good.  Well, it didn’t feel bad but the fact that there was something between him and one of the Seelie was problematic in more ways than he could count.  He figured it was problematic in more ways than he knew but he didn’t need to borrow trouble.  Not with Cortese getting ready to walk him through the Glittering Halls and Jensen at his side.  
  
“I do know how to behave myself,” Jared said with a sigh.  
  
Jensen let out a quiet bark of laughter and finally looked up to meet his eyes.  “What?  I do.”  
  
A tall, dark fae stepped out of the main doorway and Jared might have been caught up in the beauty of the man if he hadn’t paled next to Jensen.  While the other fae was gorgeous with dark hair and piercing blue eyes, there was something cold about him as he stepped forward.  He lacked the warmth that Jensen seemed to exude.    
  
“The Queen is ready for the court liaison and agent.  She did not say to admit you, Ackles.”  
  
Jensen simply smirked, as if he’d known all along that his appearance would be denied.  “I’m here with the agent, as you can damn well see.”  
  
Jared wasn’t sure what was happening but the other fae looked back at Jared, looking closer at him until he pulled back, hissing.  “You wouldn’t.”  
  
“It’s a little late to tell me the things I would and wouldn’t do, don’t you think Thomas?  Now, be a good lapdog and lead the way to the Queen.”  
  
Jared watched the way the wisps of shade crept up around Jensen and how they began to slink across the floor to pull at Jared’s pant leg, bits of fiery orange twining with it.  The other fae was surrounded in wrappings of dark blue and Jared suddenly wished he had the rest of his team with him.  Whatever was happening between the two fae was more than Jared knew how to handle.  He had no magic to deal with it, even if he could see it happening.  He had a weapon, specially marked bullets that were supposed to be able to incapacitate a fae, but it wasn’t something he could bring to bear just yet.  Especially not when they were still experimental and the guns they were supposed to be used with were still in a warehouse somewhere waiting for distribution.  
  
“The Queen of the fae is waiting,” Cortese interrupted the two men.  “I will not take responsibility for her reaction to that, so if you would please lead the way?”  
  
Her words seemed to get through to the taller fae and Jared felt himself relaxing as he watched Jensen’s hands unclench.  He took a step closer to the fae, not for protection but because he was certain that whatever happened was because of Jared.  If there was ever a time to show support of the fae and their connection, it was now.    
  
He let the front of his shoulder bump up against the back of Jensen’s shoulder, letting the other man know he was right there with him.  Jensen turned his head slightly, looking at him with a smirk.  “Nice outfit,” he commented, before taking a small step forward.  

  
Jared realized his movement was on purpose and that he wanted to keep Jared a single step behind him.  He also realized that Jensen was saying something when he mentioned their clothes.  Something about the way he was dressed meant something.

  
It was his formal DMI uniform, black pants and button down shirt with a black tie.  It was similar to military dress blues but the DMI logo – a shield with each of the five elements represented – adorned the pocket and Jared’s medals were pinned above it.  He would have gone without, but Cortese had been adamant about making the best impression he could.  Now, with the other fae’s reaction, he wasn’t sure it was possible.    
  
Jared was willing to take a chance though and considering Jensen’s words the night before, Jared wondered if there was more to the protection Jensen had offered than he realized.  He understood it had been something important when Jensen had stepped up to him, touching him in an almost ritualistic way, but a look from the other fae had been enough to piss him off enough that Jensen had been prepared to protect him.  He had no idea what to do with that, other than roll with it and trust that Jensen wasn’t leading him to the slaughter.  
  
“This way,” the other fae finally said as he walked through the doors.  
  
The doorway was an ordinary French door at the Fae consulate building and though Jared knew it was simply a gateway to the actual realm of faerie, he’d never expected the change to be so abrupt.  Where he’d been in a building full of dark, old world woods, heavy furnishings, and the trappings of the wealthy, the hallway he stepped into was a procession of autumn leaves and dancing grasses.  The center of the walkway was soft grass and Jared felt the desire to push his shoes off just to let his toes feel the blades against his skin.  The sky above could only be glanced at through the thick branches of aged trees and was a sparkling blue that made him want to run from the glade to find a way to see a clear view of the tantalizing sun.  Along each side of the processional were the fae themselves, mostly the Seelie but a few Unseelie dotted their numbers as if on some strange court business.  The beauty of the fae was legendary but never more so than in their own country and Jared could feel his heart race as he looked from one exquisite face to another.  He didn’t see Jensen stop and butted against the other man slightly, stunned by his appearance.  He looked at Jensen, his eyes catching on soft full lips before moving up to high cheekbones that should have been carved into statues.  He was more beautiful than anything the Greeks had portrayed when they sought the nature of beauty in their works and Jared felt a pang that they had never known the nature of such a thing.    
  
His eyes filled with tears as he watched the shade flow around Jensen, filling the space until Jensen turned his eyes to look at Jared.  Green jade shimmered in the autumn light but Jared could breathe again suddenly.  The concern that was in Jensen’s eyes shifted away as Jared swallowed hard against the lump in his throat.  He nodded to Jensen, letting the other man know that he was out from under whatever glamour had tried to claim him.    
  
When Jared looked back, the Glittering Halls were as breathtaking as before, but he wasn’t caught up in the illusion that he had been.  He could appreciate the beauty without a need to become a part of it.  Jensen began walking again with Cortese taking up position at Jared’s side with a questioning look.  Jared didn’t understand it himself so he just shrugged.  He watched the fae as they stood together and though he’d never heard anyone speak of colors, he realized that the fae were separating themselves into groups of colors.  Those closest to the Queen’s throne were darker autumn colors of orange and dark reds and browns.  There were concentrations of blues and greens, and yellows and pale greens and pinks thrown together in other areas.  Their colors seemed to represent alliances within their ranks and it didn’t take much to realize no one was wearing the black that Jensen wore.  No one but Jared, in his dark DMI uniform that had sent Jensen smirking when he saw it.         
  
“My Ghost, I didn’t know you were waiting at the door.  Perhaps you’ll tell me why you’re brining humans to my home?”  
  
Jensen walked them up to the large dais where the Queen of the fae sat and knelt down on one knee.  Cortese and Jared did the same.  Protocol demanded that he only look up at her once she addressed him but he found himself unable to stop himself.  On the dais was a large carved wood throne with the heavy drapings of weeping willow branches.  The colors that surrounded her were like the colors of the sunset, but it was the queen herself who kept his attention.  She wore a long gown of burnt orange that clung to her curves, feet bare as she sat with her feet crossed at the ankles, smiling down at Jensen.  Her long auburn hair hung in waves down past her shoulders and her red lips were curled up in a small smirk.  Chocolate colored eyes turned from Jensen to the liaison who was kneeling a step behind him.    
  
“Hello Ms. Cortese.  You haven’t come to see out halls in a very long time.”  
  
“You honor me with your presence,” Cortese answered.    
  
The Queen didn’t deny it but she was already dismissing the liaison, turning her eyes to Jared.  He watched the way her eyes narrowed on him, and the way the court stilled around them as her gaze brought they eyes of the rest of them.  
  
“You dare?” the Queen was looking at Jared but he knew the question wasn’t for him.  
  
Jensen stood between the Queen and Jared, effectively blocking him from her view.  “We have come because you granted us a private audience, My Queen.  May we adjourn to someplace more private?”          
  
“Out!” the Queen made a dismissive gesture with her hand and the ranks of fae around them began to disappear.  He didn’t know how they managed to move away so quickly, if their disappearance was a matter of glamour or some trick but none of them used the shadows to travel as Jensen did.  
  
Only a moment passed before they were left alone with the Queen and Jensen was looking around them, checking for anyone that might be waiting in hiding.  Jensen whispered a few words and shade and fire left his hand, travelling like a cloud of smoke across the clearing and in a circle around them.  
  
“You presume much, my Pet,” the Queen reprimanded.  
  
Jared wasn’t sure what made him stand, but without the Queen’s permission he felt himself rising to stand at Jensen’s back.  Jensen didn’t turn to look at him but Jared knew the fae was aware of his movement.  The Queen was as well.  She didn’t look at Jared either, but her lips turned down in a slightly frown.  
  
“What we came to discuss was important, My Queen, or we would not have disturbed you or asked for a private audience.  Since you granted such an audience, I was simply ensuring that it remained private.”  
  
“You think one of my court would disobey me?”  
  
“Not with your Ghost to make sure they don’t.”  
  
Her eyes turned angrily away from Jensen and turned to Cortese.  “You may rise, Liaison.”  She said as she stood from her throne, walking forward to put her hand on Jensen’s arm.  “So what have you come to see me about, Pet?”  
  
“The investigation.  There was another murder and we learned something new.”  
  
“Perhaps your friend would like to talk.  He dressed the part after all, didn’t he?”  
  
Jensen took a step back and Jared was faced with the Queen of the Seelie court.  They called her the Queen of all the fae, though her title was only for the Seelie.  Her power was far reaching though and even the Unseelie heeded her law.  
  
Her eyes swept over his body and though she was much shorter than he was, he felt smaller for her proximity.  
  
“What do you have to say, agent?”  
  
“Agent Padalecki,” he offered his last name.  Jensen didn’t say anything but Jared could see the almost imperceptible nod that meant he approved of the level of respect he gave her, and the level of caution he took at not giving her his full name.  “I have been working with Ackles to apprehend a murderer.  We believe there are at least two individuals responsible, one using magic to hold the victims and the other who is actually pulling the trigger.  One is human-”  
  
“The other is what we’re here to speak with you about,” Jensen cut off before Jared could continue.  “We have reason to believe that the second murderer is a fae.”  
  
“No.”  
  
“The murdered is Seelie court.”  
  
“That’s impossible.  The fae have no need to kill humans and no one among the Seelie would lower themselves enough to work with a human to do so.”  
  
 Neither the Queen nor Jensen seemed to think the insult merited any notice, but Jared watched the way Cortese’s lips drew up into a tight line and her eyes were pinched at the words.  Jared had to bite his bottom lip to keep from smiling.  Cortese should have been used to the way the fae saw humans after all her years with the liaison’s office.  
  
The Queen looked at Jensen, giving him her full attention.  “I won’t have you getting the court worked up over this.  You will stop this investigation immediately.  You’re services are required elsewhere and I am tired of your games, Pet.”  
  
“Excuse me?”  
  
The words Jensen spoke were quiet but a shiver ran over Jared’s spine and shade flittered up his spine as if Jensen needed the added connection to Jared to keep his cool.  
  
“You bring a human here, a bound, protected human and talk to me of murdering fae?”  The Queen asked.  “I will not have you flaunting your strange obsessions.  You will cease all investigations within the human world.”  
  
Jared felt the magic moving around them before he saw the edges of Jensen’s shade push into the Queen.  Her own magic – trails of earth and wind – moved up to protect her, but shade slipped between them just as Jensen moved in, fingers clenching around her throat as he pinned her to the back of her throne.  
  
“I don’t tell you how to rule your kingdom.  I don’t tell you who to exile or pardon.  I don’t tell you where to hunt or when.  Do not tell me what to investigate or not.  I came for your help and I will have it.  Leave the investigations to me and I’ll leave ruling the Seelie to you.”  
  
The Queen’s eyes were filled with fear and Jared knew then what she feared the most.  Jensen, in all his glory, was far more powerful than she was and the Seelie ruled by sheer force of power.  She was no match for him and they both knew it.    
  
Cortese was openly gasping as Jensen let go of the Queen’s throat and his shade began to crawl away from her again.  Jensen turned to walk away then, and their liaison didn’t move until Jared grabbed her by the elbow and began pulling her after him.  They were barely out in the hallway of the fae Consulate building when Jensen pushed Cortese up against the wall in an echo of the way he’d held the Queen.    
  
“If anyone so much as breathes like they knew what happened there today, I will destroy you.  There will be no body to find, and no one to wonder what happened.  Not even the great Agent Padalecki will be able to find what happened to you.”  Although he didn’t ask her, Cortese nodded vigorously.  He stepped in closer and smirked.  “If anyone finds out about this, I will kill you slowly,” she shivered and Jared saw the way shade wrapped over her wrists.  “And I will enjoy it,” Jensen promised.  
  
When he let her go, Cortese slumped against the wall.  If she hadn’t been leaning there Jared was sure she’d have fallen over.  Her face was pale but Jared knew she’d keep her silence.  No one wanted the Ghost hunting them.  
  
Jared was about to turn and follow Jensen when he felt an arm around his waist.  Soft, whispered words crawled around his skin and etched themselves in his flesh, pulling him into the shadow world and away from the liaison to wherever Jensen was taking them to next.

  


**

  


Anger thrummed through Jensen’s body as he felt the floor of his apartment underneath his feet.  The shadow was cool to the touch but Jared was a fucking heater against his front.  The whole of the fae court knew that Jensen had marked Jared as his own, that the DMI agent wore his protective brand and their quick departure was sure to be noticed, but the only that really registered to Jensen was the need to keep Jared safe.    
  
Shade licked up and down his sides, fire dancing within it as it pressed closer to Jared, pulling him around and pressing his head down to rest on Jensen’s shoulder.  Jensen’s arm was still wrapped around Jared’s waist, his other hand on the man’s hip.  Jared was immobile in his touch, in his power, but Jared wasn’t fighting him.  He was blinded again by the shade and Jensen leaned his head to the side until his lips brushed Jared’s ear.      
  
“What were you thinking, Jared?” he whispered.  “Did you think you could stand by my side against the Queen of the Seelie?”  
  
Jared’s head turned ever so slightly and Jensen watched as he licked his lips.  “Let me go.”  
  
The words were barely a whisper and Jensen nearly laughed at the desperation in Jared’s voice.  He almost laughed at the way the shade wrapped tighter around him, pulling him close.  He wasn’t sure if Jared was talking about the magic that held them together or the rest of it, but Jensen was unable to do either.  
  
“Never.”  
  
He wasn’t expecting Jared’s reaction so when the DMI agent pulled up to his full height and pushed against Jensen’s shoulders with all his strength, Jensen was thrown back a few steps.    
  
“You have no right to threaten a human like that.” Jared’s chest was heaving with his anger and Jensen was amazed at the strength in the man, standing tall and proud and righteous even with his current blindness.  “Cortese didn’t deserve to be treated like that.”  
  
“I don’t care that she was human, Jared.  Cortese is a liaison to the Seelie court and she knows the dangers as well as any fae that walls the Glittering Halls.  What she saw – what you both saw – could get us all killed.  If I thought for one second that she wouldn’t keep quiet, I would have killed her then and there and left the Queen to deal with the political mess.”  
  
“She was there to help you!” Jared screamed.  
  
Jensen laughed suddenly.  “No one helps me, Jared!  No one does something for nothing and for what she saw tonight, she could ask the Queen for a ransom the likes of which you can’t believe, and the Queen would give it to keep her secret.”  
  
“What secret is that?” Jared demanded.  
  
Jensen knew he had to know what they were talking about, but if Jared needed to hear the words aloud, Jensen was willing to oblige him.    
  
He took a step closer to where Jared was, letting the noise of his motion telegraph his location.  He got close enough that his chest was almost brushing Jared’s body when he began circling him.  “The Queen – or King – of the Seelie court rules both courts.  Queen Danneel rules the Unseelie through the power of the Seelie.  She rules the Seelie because she is the strongest among them.  No one would dare to try themselves against her power.  Do you understand now Jared?”  
  
“You’re stronger than she is.”  
  
 “Yes, but that’s not what I’m asking you to understand.  If word got out that I was able to best the Queen, a civil war would erupt in faerie.  The Queen would have no choice but to come to me and challenge me, and I would win.  And then the Seelie and Unseelie would see blood as they haven’t since the creation of the separate courts.”  
  
“Why?”  
  
Jensen paused, unsure of why he was explaining it all, of why it was so important to him for Jared to understand all of it.  He’d never talked to anyone about it and he knew that his birthright had been withheld from humans.  He stepped in, releasing the shade that had kept Jared blind.  He needed Jared to look at him.  He needed to see the understanding dawn there.  
  
“Because I am not of either court.  My father was Seelie and my mother was Unseelie.”  He saw the look of surprise in the agent’s eyes and nodded.  “I was raised as one of the Seelie but when my powers came, I was cast away and sent to the court of the Unseelie.  No one knew back then what I would become.  No one understood that I would be the most powerful fae in the world, that I would become the rightful ruler of all fae.”  
  
Jared’s eyes were searching his for something but he took a deep, shuddered breath and swallowed hard.  “Why would they throw you to the Unseelie?  What could you do?”  
  
He knew he should step back, that he’d told himself time and time again that Jared was an ally and a partner, not a play thing, but Jared was there asking when he had to know what Jensen would do.  
  
Jensen took a step towards Jared but the agent took a step back.  Jensen could feel the anxiety in Jared and he smiled as he began pulling shade around himself.  For each step he took, Jared took one back until he was backed against the wall next to Jensen’s bed.  Jared’s eyes went wide as he realized where Jensen had forced him but he still didn’t speak.    
  
“You’ve seen it before, Jared, what I could do.  Do you want to see it again?” he asked.  
  
He didn’t let Jared talk, but reached for Jared’s shirt and pulled the tails out of his pants.  He smirked up at the agent as he let one hand slide up under his shirt, feeling the taut muscles ripple under his touch.  
  
“Already so responsive.”  He leaned in, brushing his nose along the underside of Jared’s chin, taking in the emotions that were wrapped so strongly around Jared.  He leaned closer until his body was pressing Jared all the way back against the wall.  When he let out a soft sigh against Jared’s skin the other man shivered and Jensen let the touch of shade slide of Jared’s skin.  It was a taste of pain, nothing more but Jared’s head went back and he moaned up into the ceiling.  Jensen licked a stripe up Jared’s neck before letting his lips rest against his skin.  “Do you see the things I would do for you, Jared?” he asked as he sucked the soft skin just behind Jared’s ear into his mouth, tasting and marking.    
  
Jared’s body was still against his until Jensen brought his other hand up under Jared’s shirt.  Shade slid under his touch and as the pain started, Jared’s hips pressed up against Jensen.  The long hard line of Jared’s cock made Jensen push that much more pain into his body.    
  
“Jensen,” Jared gasped as his head dropped down.  Jensen couldn’t help himself.  He had to taste his name on Jared’s lips and as he sent pin pricks of pain running down his chest and arms.  When Jared whimpered his name again, Jensen crushed his lips to Jared’s.  Jared gasped at the sudden pressure and Jensen took advantage of the moment, sliding his tongue into the man’s mouth.  Jared moaned as he thrust up against Jensen again.    
  
“Jared,” Jensen breathed his name as he pulled back, hands pulling away to unbutton Jared’s shirt and push it down his shoulders, revealing the amazing musculature to Jensen’s eyes at last.  “Fuck,” he whispered as he leaned in, pressing lips to Jared’s collarbone as his hands began to work on his belt buckle.  “I’m gonna turn you inside out.”  
  
“Do it,” Jared demanded, reaching forward to grab Jensen’s shirt and pull it over his head.  Jensen let himself be stripped completely before he pushed Jared back onto the black sheets on his bed.  He didn’t let Jared get settled but set out strands of fire and earth to bind Jared’s wrists so the bed post.    
  
He knelt at the end of the bed between Jared’s legs and placed his hands on Jared’s calves, watching fire erupt from his hands before he let a small trickle move up Jared’s skin.  Jared arched up off the bed and Jensen leaned over him, pressing him back into the mattress with his body.  “Think you can take it, Jared?  Think you can take what I want to give you?”  
  
Jared looked up at him, almond shaped eyes glaring.  “Try me.”  
  
Jensen laughed as he leaned down, biting Jared’s lower lip.  He moved down to his neck, leaving a string of angry red marks wherever he bit down.  He could feel how hard Jared was and Jensen wanted to leave him that way all night, desperate and wanting.  He leaned in and kissed Jared hard before he began to climb up his body.  Jared’s eyes grew wide but he licked his lips as Jensen settled his knees around his broad shoulders.  He leaned up, holding onto the bedframe to support himself as he fed his cock to Jared.  Jared opened up around him and it was Jensen’s turn to moan.  He thrust in and out of Jared’s mouth and gave him a few moments to adjust before he was pressing forward, burying himself in Jared’s throat.  He could see Jared’s eyes watering and he knew Jared wasn’t able to breath around his cock but as he pulled back, Jensen wrapped shade around Jared’s neck and kept him from breathing.  Jared didn’t struggle under him and Jensen smiled as he fucked into Jared’s mouth again.  He let the magic pulse and surge around him and Jared could breathe sporadically as he worked himself towards orgasm.  He pulled back finally, determined to make this last longer.  He pushed his way back down Jared’s body and kissed him hard, Jared meeting each thrust of his tongue with his own.  When Jensen put his hands back on Jared’s chest, he pushed the shade into his flesh making him moan into the touch.  As much as Jensen wanted to make this last he could feel himself losing control too quickly to hold off much longer.  He wasn’t even sure he’d manage to wait until he was inside Jared before he let them both feel the pleasure that was coursing in his veins.    
  
“Jensen,” Jared breathed underneath him and Jensen pushed again, forcing himself to look Jared in the eye as pain etched its way under his skin.  
  
Jared’s eyes opened wide but narrowed almost immediately and then Jensen was stunned as he felt the force of someone reaching into his chest with bonds of fire and shade.  The magic wrapped around him and instead of pain, he felt the pleasure building in Jared, felt it in himself.  He moved his hands up to Jared’s, holding the man’s wrists in place as the bonds that had held him were released.  “Jensen… Jensen …” Jared’s voice begged him for something Jensen was no longer in control of giving him.  
  
He crushed their lips together and then pleasure rippled through him too strong to resist.  He threw his head back, screaming Jared’s name as he came all over his stomach.  He was barely aware of the hot splash of come against his body and Jared crying out his name as he blacked out.  
  
He woke a few minutes later, Jared underneath him still, breath steady as he slept.  Jensen got up immediately and went into the bathroom, running warm water to wash himself up with.  He cleaned his stomach up before stopping to look at himself in the mirror.    
  
He knew what had happened, even if he’d never expected it.  He knew how it had happened.  He just had no idea how to handle it.  He took a deep breath and washed his face before wetting a washcloth to clean Jared up.  The only problem was that by the time he walked out, all he saw of Jared was his back as he slammed the front door behind him.  
  
Jensen swore loudly before stalking over to the window and looking out.  He could feel Jared down there, could feel the turmoil of emotions that the agent was dealing with, and no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn’t stop it.  The bond that had been trying to form between them was well and sealed and there was nothing Jensen could do but berate himself for not running as soon as he’d met Jared Padalecki.  
  
He was a practical creature though, so he pulled himself away from the window and reached for the phone.  He dialed a number he’d learned quickly and never expected to have to call.  
  
“Kane,” the voice on the other side answered.  
  
“This is Ackles.  You need to keep an eye out for Jared.”  
  
“What the hell did you do to him?”  
  
Jensen took a deep breath to keep from letting his anger get the best of him.  Kane was right.  Jensen had fucked all of this up because he couldn’t keep control of his magic.  Doubts rarely crept into his mind, but tonight he wondered if maybe the others were right about him. Maybe there was a reason creatures of both worlds shouldn’t exist.  
  
“He just left and I’m pretty sure he’s coming to you.  You need to help him.”  
  
“Why’s that?”  
  
“He’s dealing with something he doesn’t want to admit.”  
  
“And why are you warning me?”  
  
“Because he’s a latent.”  
  
“Holy shit!”  
  
“Yeah,” Jensen said softly, walking back towards the window and pressing his head against the glass as he looked in the direction Jared had gone.  “And he’s strong Kane.  If what I felt tonight was any indication, he’s stronger than any human I’ve ever felt.”  
  
“Are you serious?  He’s never shown an affinity to any element.  Not even a tiny bit or we’d have been keeping a closer eye on him.”  
  
“Shade, Kane.  His affinity is fire and shade and I doubt anyone gave him both in a strong enough dose to matter.”  
  
“Well hell.  We don’t – no one in the team knows enough about shade to help him deal with something like this.”  
  
“I know.  He’ll have to come back to me to learn, but I wanted you to know for now.  So you can watch out for him.”  
  
“What do you care?”  
  
“He’s under my protection, Kane.  I’ll do anything and everything in my power to protect him.  I’m the Ghost your marginals whisper about so you know that I can do a lot.”  
  
“Jesus fucking,” There was a pause on the other end of the phone and Kane sighed.  “Someone is here.  I need to take care of him.”  
  
“That’s why I called.  Tell him he knows where to find me now, when he needs me again.”  
  
“That such a good idea?”  
  
Jensen laughed bitterly, deciding that he actually liked Kane.  “Absolutely not, but I don’t think we have a choice.”  
  
“Yeah, alright. “  
  
Jensen was about to hang up when Kane began again.  “And Ackles?”  
  
“Yes?”  
  
“Thanks.  For letting someone know.”  
  
“Just keep him safe Kane.  He’s mine now and I will kill anyone that hurts him.  Or anyone that fails him.”  
  
“Now you’re just being a sweet talker.”  
  
Kane hung up the phone before Jensen could answer but he just shook his head as he put the phone down.  Jared had the strangest team working with him, but if they were all as loyal as Kane was, then Jensen knew that tonight, at least, he didn’t have to worry about his wayward mate.  
  
**      
  
Jared took a deep breath as he stared away from his desk to the pictures pinned to the board in front of him.  The case was stalled out and Jared was trying to focus his attention on the details in front of him, instead of the craziness his life had become.  
  
Three nights ago he’d gone to his first meeting with the Queen of the fae.  Three nights ago he’d learned that the Ghost was part Seelie, part Unseelie, and the rightful ruler of the fae.  Three nights ago, he’d had sex with the fae and learned that he was one of the rare people that were classified a latent.    
  
He didn’t want to be able to do magic, had been quite happy his whole life without it actually, but he didn’t have a choice.  He couldn’t ignore it, not considering what a lack of control had done to his family.  And from what his team had said, once they started working with him, he was extremely strong.  
  
He took a deep breath and opened the top drawer of his desk where he kept his weapon.  It was new, one of the designs that were supposed to be able to take down the fae should they get attacked.  He ran his fingers over the surface of it, impressed with the smooth feel of the weapon even while he abhorred the idea of it.  A year ago no one was clamoring for the need to protect themselves from the fae with weapons.  Then again, a year ago the press wasn’t telling people that a fae was killing people.  

  
He’d spoken with the journalist in question but the man hadn’t been leaking information, just making a guess about who the killer could be, but the idea had taken hold with the media and they’d run with it.  No one was happy about it and Jared had his superiors on his ass to solve the case so everyone could move past it.  
  
The damage was done though and Jared was amazed by the swiftness with which the anti-fae movement was growing.  He could understand people’s fear of the fae and he understood people’s fear of magic.  Hell, if anyone could understand the negative impact of magic on human life, it was Jared.  He’d never blamed the fae for what had happened to his family.    
  
He had learned a fair amount of resentment in the last three days though.  He’d always thought himself out of the reach of magic, but now he was busting his ass to learn how to control it when what he really needed to focus on was the case in front of him.  
  
His phone rang and Jared took a deep breath before answering it with a crisp, “Padalecki.”  
  
It was never good news and this was no exception.  He yelled at Kane to get the team together and he grabbed his weapon as he headed out the door to the newest crime scene.  He was almost out of the door when he heard a familiar moan.  He couldn’t place it at first, but when he turned around the corner he found himself looking at the top of someone’s head.  Her forehead was on the desk and she was banging it repeatedly.  Her hair was long and straight, blond and he knew then how he recognized her moan. She was the marginal he’d seen at the mansion with Jensen.    
  
“Who are you?” he asked as he looked at her.    
  
Nancy used to work the call lines but she’d left for maternity leave two months before and he’d never had a chance to introduce himself to her replacement.    
  
Her eyes were wide as she looked up at Jared.  “I’m Katie,” she said with a smile.  “You’re Agent Padalecki, right?”  
  
“Yeah.  But what are you doing here?”  
  
She looked confused.  “I … I answer the phones.  Transfer calls to the right agents.”  
  
Jared took a step closer.  “I meant what is a marginal doing working at the DMI?”  He put the pieces together then and had to clench his teeth.  “You’re the one feeding the Ghost information about the murders.  You’re how he gets there before me.  You’re calling him before passing the calls over to me.”  
  
She didn’t bother to deny it and Jared knew he’d have to deal with it later but he had a murder scene to get to and a fae who was going to be there, no matter that Jared would rather be anywhere than where Jensen was at the moment.  
  
“We’ll discuss this later,” he said as he strode out of the office.  He should have taken care of it then, but he needed time.  He wasn’t one of the marginal but he wasn’t sure how he could explain firing a marginal without admitting how he knew she was one.  And bringing up a connection to the Ghost as a prelude to firing wasn’t really in his own best interests either.  
  
He pushed the matter to the back of his head as he got to his car.  Jared was the first of his team to arrive and while he knew they’d be pissed that he left without him, he needed the time to himself.  He needed to take a few minutes to himself and feel out the crime scene with the new senses that he had.  He wasn’t affected like the people who could sense emotions but he could sense their energies now and he could feel their strengths and weaknesses.  He hated the way his mind was calculating risks and assessing people automatically by their strength in elements instead of the way he’d trained the rest of his life but he could see people reassessing him now too.  Jared was generally considered a threat by people because of his size and training but this was something different.  Now they were looking at him for two things; his strength with magic, and his control of it.    
  
The local cops all stepped away as Jared walked into the clearing where the last murder had taken place.  It was a college campus and the victim was lying on a path that was out of the way through a small garden that crossed the campus.    
  
He didn’t need to look to know that Jensen was there.  To his annoyance, he’d started to feel Jensen’s proximity a mile back and it just got stronger as he approached.  He had no doubt that Jensen was as aware of him but it didn’t make him turn around as Jared approached.  Again, the locals weren’t aware of the intruder and it wasn’t until then that Jared realized it wasn’t because they weren’t protected, but because Jensen was so strong that he was able to overpower the simple tricks they used to stop fae glamour.    
  
He walked over to the body but he didn’t need to ask Jensen what was used on the body this time.  He could feel the shifting edge of shade that had been used against the body and he shivered in memory of Jensen’s hands.  He closed his eyes, trying to get himself under control.  He could feel the building power inside himself and he needed to find a way to back it down.  He wasn’t good at that yet but Jensen’s proximity seemed to bring it out in him.  He wanted to push back into the fae as he had the first time, pushing shade back into his chest and twisting until Jensen couldn’t tell pleasure from pain without Jared’s moans to tell him.  

  
“Jared,” Jensen’s voice was in his ear and Jared had no idea that the fae had moved.  He didn’t open his eyes as Jensen’s hand pressed to his chest.  “Breathe with me,” Jensen said softly as his other hand rubbed up Jared’s arm, the physical contact calming him more than Jared wanted to admit.  “Just imagine it leaving your body with your exhale.  You have the control and you can push it away.”  
  
Jensen didn’t say anything else but he stood where he was, hand on Jared’s chest, the other on his arm, right in Jared’s space just breathing with him.  When Jared finally opened his eyes, Jensen was watching him carefully.    
  
“How did you know?”  
  
Jensen gave him a sad smile.  “I learned the hard way.  It became clear what my powers were before they completely blossomed so I was pushed from one court to the other.  But my full powers came suddenly and I had no one who could teach me to control it.”  Jensen’s smile turned real then.  “I learned a lot from human history shows about the days when magic first came to them.”  
  
“Thank you.”  He didn’t want to say it, but he didn’t want to leave something like that unacknowledged between them.  
  
Jensen nodded.  “I gave you my protection, Jared.  That is in all things.  When this becomes too much, you don’t have to face it alone.”  
  
“Why?” Jared asked.  “I didn’t know what it meant when you offered but I did my research.”  
  
And he really had.  He’d gone to Beaver after his powers had come in and talked to him for a long time about what was happening to him.  He didn’t explain everything that was happening between himself and Jensen but Beaver had been completely surprised by Jensen’s offer of protection.  
  
Jensen looked away then, taking a step back to put distance between them but Jared grabbed his arm and kept him close.  
  
“Jensen?”  
  
“I don’t know why I did it.  I don’t know why I’ve done anything I have to you, Jared.  I keep telling myself I won’t do anything, that I’ll leave you to your investigation and just get what I need from you, but I can’t.”  Jensen looked up at him then.  “I never meant for any of this to happen between us.”  
  
“Then why did it?”  
  
“Magic,” Jensen answered in a whisper.  It wasn’t a flippant answer and Jared could see the edge of fear in Jensen’s eyes.  He believed whatever it was Jensen was telling him, but he didn’t understand entirely and he knew that.  Jensen seemed to also.  “Soon, you’ll know.  You’ll feel it and when you do, nothing you tell yourself will matter.  All that will matter is touching and feeling and the need for whatever is driving you forward.”  
  
“Padalecki?”  
  
Jensen stepped out of Jared’s reach and Jared didn’t try to stop him as Kane and Carlson stepped into the crime scene.    
  
“Just like before ladies and gents,” Jared told his crew as they all got there.  “Shade was used on the victim.  Let’s canvas the area and see if we can get anything out of the locals.”  
  
They began moving but Carlson stayed where he was, moving to stand at Jared’s side.  Jensen was on the other side of the scene though Jared wasn’t sure what he was doing at that point.    
  
“Padalecki, you alright?”  
  
“Yeah.  You need something?”  
  
Carlson looked him up and down for a second.  “Yeah, just wanted to check on you.  That looked … intense.  Kane said you were with the Ghost when your powers came.”  
  
Jared just nodded to confirm it.  
  
“Sometimes our powers get drawn out more when we’re with certain people.  If you need us to handle things while he’s around, all you gotta do is say the word.”  
  
Jared gave him a small smile.  “Yeah, I know.  You guys have been great but Ackles is something I have to figure out myself.”  
  
“Just remember, you can’t trust him Padalecki.  He’s a fae, no matter how well he makes himself look like one of us.  The words a fae speaks aren’t always the words you hear.”    
  
Jared frowned.  He’d never known Carlson to say anything like that and it bothered him that he was saying it in relation to Jensen.  It bothered him that he cared that it was Jensen.  
  
He sighed, rubbing a hand over tired eyes.  “Thanks.  I’ll keep that in mind.”  
  
Before Carlson could say anything else, Jared stepped away, already feeling his anger build, which made it harder for him to control the shade that began to converge around his fingers.  He wasn’t like Jensen, someone who had shade dancing around his feet, but he’d heard that the more you dealt with shade the more it came to you on its own.  He could send it away, but he didn’t need to actually call it to feel it there, waiting.  Watching.    
  
Beaver had said it was the most sentient of the elements, that it reacted to things and when magic moved the world, it was shade that did it.  The theory was that shade had changed humans to see magic and it was the use of shade in creating their vision that kept most of them from seeing it.  Jared didn’t know what to believe, but Beaver supported the idea so Jared was willing to go with it.  
  
Jared watched as Kane and Carlson began working the body and saw the way the rest of his team was spread out before going over to join Jensen.  “There has to be something about these people.  I know we’re missing something here.”  
  
It was easier if he focused on the case and no matter what else had happened in faerie, Jared wasn’t about to ask Jensen to stay off the case.  If Jensen could take out the Queen of the fae without hesitation, Jared would be minced meat.  Not that he factored that into his decision but he was well aware that if there was a fae in on the murder that they could use a little extra protection.  
   
“It’s the same signature,” Jensen said as he looked back.  “I know this signature damn it!  I just … I don’t know who I saw.”  
  
Jared could feel Jensen’s frustration and without thinking, he brought his hand up to the nape of the fae’s neck and ran his thumb lightly up and down the patch of exposed skin.  “We’ll figure it out.”  
  
It wasn’t until that moment though that Jared took a deep breath and realized that he could feel the signature as well.  He concentrated on it as well, knowing he wouldn't be much help but wanting to be able to recognize the feel of it should he ever meet the caster.  It was familiar though.    
  
“Padalecki, we have an ID,” Able said as he and Milton walked over.  “He was another member of the fae interaction committee.  His name was Darren Thompson.”  
  
“Thompson?” Jared asked.  
  
“Yeah.  That mean anything to you?”  
  
“Give me a second.”  For some reason the name was familiar to Jared and he closed his eyes, trying to recall anything that might have brought the man to his attention.  After a minute he realized what it was.  “He was part of a fae initiative that Cortese told me about.”  He stopped as he felt a surge of jealously coming from Jensen.  He wasn’t sure why he felt the need to justify the conversation but he did.  “We were working on a case a few months back and she was caught up in this initiative that humans were trying to pass.  It was anti-fae legislation and the liaison’s office was working with pro fae groups to fight the legislation.”  
  
“What was the legislation for?”  
  
“They wanted to be able to hold the fae responsible in human courts of law, but protected humans against fae law.”  
  
“The Queen would never agree to that.” Jensen stated.  
  
“Thompson was one of the pro-fae members that Cortese was working with.”  
  
“What would have happened if the legislation had passed?” McCoy asked.    
  
“War,” Jensen answered before Jared could.  “The fae would never consent to living under human laws and they would consider it an insult that they were supposed to live under human rule while humans weren’t subjected to fae law.”  
  
“Why haven’t we heard this before?” Tal asked.  
  
“It never got off the ground.  Cortese said the group of men and women they had managed to stop it before it got close to a vote.”

“Were the names of the people involved ever released?” Kane asked Jared.  
  
“No.  I only knew his name because he was a pain in Cortese’ ass.  He kept asking her to take him to the Seelie court to meet the Queen for his service.”  
  
Kane pulled out his phone before Jared could.  His second knew that something had happened between him and Cortese the other night and he was making the call without making Jared ask.  
  
“Cortese,” Kane said as he started to walk away.  “I need to get some information from you.”  
  
“You really think this is the tie?” Able asked.  
  
“I hope to hell it is or we have another body without a way to tie them together.”    
  
“What do we do now?” Milton asked.  
  
“Secure the scene.  Work it as you would any other scene.  No matter what we hear from Cortese we need to get all the information we can here.”  
  
The others started to move away then and Jared watched as his team went back to working the scene.  It said something about them that he didn’t have to worry about doling out assignments.  They all worked well together and compensated for each other’s strengths and weaknesses.    
  
He was just starting to relax when he felt the press of shade around him.  It wasn’t foreign, the shade was his own but it was startling to have so much around him when he hadn’t consciously called it to him.  Jensen stepped up to one side of him, his shoulder butting at the back of Jared’s.  “So someone is trying to pass anti-fae legislation and then taking out the people who kept it from being known.  They’re using magic and modern weapons.  As much as I know a fae was part of this, it doesn’t feel like something a fae would do.”  
  
Jared let out a deep breath and he felt the way the shade Jensen had wrapped around him starting to mingle with his own.  It made his breath still for a moment before he was able to breathe it out again.  “What sort of fae would work under a human?”  
  
“Someone desperate,” Jensen answered.  “No matter how I personally feel about humans, no Seelie would willingly give up the control of a human –fae relationship.”  
  
Jared looked over his shoulder at Jensen.  “We need to talk,” he said softly.  “In private.”  
  
Jensen raised his eyebrow and Jared shook his head.  “About the case.  Something just … I realized something and I think it best to talk to you alone about it.”  
  
“Warn the others and I’ll get us out of here.”  
  
Jared didn’t waste any time.  He found Tal and though she looked on disapprovingly, she didn’t comment on what he was doing the way Kane would have.  He would have gone to Carlson but he was off working the campus area already.  Tal was the least likely to comment and the most likely to remember to tell everyone if they started looking for him.  
  
When he got back, Jensen was waiting for him.  “Ready?” the fae asked.  
  
He wasn’t sure what to expect but Jensen’s playful smile as he stepped in and wrapped an arm around Jared’s waist wasn’t part of it.  
  
“Will I go blind this time?” Jared asked, curious if his own magic would be able to keep it from happening.  
  
“We’ll see.”  
  
He didn’t have time to say anything else then because Jensen was pulling shade around them, Jared’s magic wrapping around them both as they began to shift away.

**

  


Traveling in shadow was something Jensen loved.  Most fae disliked working with shade, though they were far better at dealing with it than humans were.  There was a mingling of opposites that made the fae uncomfortable, but Jensen had always been in between worlds.  It defined him and made him who he was.    
  
He loved the moment where the world shifted under him and he was left, trusting in his magic to get him where he needed to be.  He loved the way it bit into his flesh when he arrived at his destination, taking a payment of pain in its wake.  He loved the way it took Jared’s sight and left him in Jensen’s hands, completely helpless until Jensen released him from the hold of the shade that had transported them.  He loved that even as strong as Jared was, he didn’t fight it when Jensen wrapped an arm around him and took pleasure from his pain.  
  
His apartment looked no different than the night Jensen had laid Jared out on the bed and he almost wished it did.  That night had changed so many things for Jensen.  It felt like the room itself should have shifted until it showed something of the events that had happened there.  
  
Jared leaned his head forward, arms gripping Jensen’s forearms as he tried to orient himself with the blindness.  Jensen let his lips brush against Jared’s ear before he spoke.  “Let me get you something to drink.”  
  
He started to pull away but Jared wouldn’t let go so his words were whispered into the curve of his neck.  “You do this to me.  You keep me blind when you don’t have to.  Why?”  
  
Jensen didn’t realize Jared would have learned so much so quickly but he smiled at the realization.  Jared had spent a lifetime working with people who knew magic.  He’d devoted his life to the study of magic and defending people from it.  It was no wonder than once he actually felt the pull of magic he would be able to put together what he knew from books with the practical experience.  
  
“You’re mine,” Jensen admitted.  “I want to feel you helpless in my hands, dependent on my mercy.   I want to feel you strong and hard and demanding and begging for whatever I give you.  I want to feel your panic and your pain almost as much as I want to feel your pleasure under my hands.”  
  
Jensen could feel Jared’s fingers tightening around his arms as he spoke.  He didn’t know how Jared had managed to get by without realizing how affected he was by the effects of pain on pleasure, but he seemed to have accepted that, even if Jensen knew he was holding back in other ways.  
  
“Let me go,” Jared asked in echo of his last visit.  
  
Jensen smiled against his skin, turning in to bite lightly at Jared’s neck.  “Never.”  He did step back then though, letting go of Jared with the shade.  “Now, you said you needed to talk to me about the case?”  
  
“The killer.  I didn’t realize before, I couldn’t, you know?  But when I was at the scene I recognized the feel of the magic.”  
  
“Jared, that’s impossible.”  
  
“I know, but what I felt was familiar and I realized that it wasn’t something I knew.  But it was close.”  
  
“What do you mean?”  
  
“Jensen, where is your father?”  
  
 “Not as far away as you might think.”  The voice from behind made Jensen turn, moving his body between Jared and the unexpected visitor.    
  
“Carlson?”  
  
The man was supposed to be at the crime scene but Jensen was more concerned with how he knew where he lived.  “What are you doing here?”  
  
“Your kind thinks they’re so much better than humans.  Did you really think you were invincible?  Did you think we wouldn’t find you eventually?  It only took one little act of betrayal to figure out where you’ve been hiding all this time.  It just took Jared.”  
  
Jensen could feel the anger running off Jared and he knew that whatever Carlson was saying was a lie.  He might not know exactly where they stood just yet, but Jared would never consciously betray him.    
  
“How did you find me?” Jensen demanded.  
  
“Are you so sure of yourself that you really believe no one would turn against you?’ Carlson asked.  
  
Jensen shook his head.  “There is only one creature in this world that I trust not to betray me.  Too bad it just happens to be the man you named.”  
  
Shade was building around Jensen and he could feel the mingling mist of Jared’s power behind him.    
  
“Don’t think about it,” another voice called out.    
  
He felt Jared spin to face the new intruder.  He heard the cocking of the gun and Jared’s annoyance rippled back at him through their bond.  
  
“You brought a gun to this fight, Carlson?” Jared threw back over his shoulder.    
  
“Cohen might be a pain in the ass district attorney, but he’s also the police chief’s son and a crack shot.  You should know.  You’ve been witnessing his handiwork for a while now.”  
  
Jensen didn’t know who Cohen was but it was obvious that Jared and Carlson did.  As much as Jensen wanted to make a move though, he couldn’t with a gun aimed at Jared.  He couldn’t see what the other man was up against, not without turning his back on Carlson and he wasn’t about to do that.  
  
“You still haven’t answered my question.  How did you find me?”  He wanted to get Carlson’s attention on him instead of Jared even more than he wanted an answer.    
  
“Jared,” Carlson answered with a smirk.  “I thought for sure once you started paying attention to him that we’d have trouble with the two of you, but I never would have believed he’d be the key to getting to you.  No one could trace you here, no one and believe you me, we had plenty of people trying.  But then you brought Jared here, and he damn near put a bull’s eyes for anyone who was looking the night his powers came out.”    
  
He’d never even thought about the effect that night might have had on his hiding place.  He’d always kept his location secret because it gave him one place in the world that he could be safe.  It was the one place where there were no expectations of him and no hostility.  Now, he’d lost it all and he didn’t know how to process that.    Hell, he was still trying to figure out why he’d let Jared into his home in the first place.    
  
“Why are you doing this, Steve?” Jared asked.    
  
“You’ve studied them your whole life, Jared.  You know what the fae think of us.  Why should we just sit back as they waltz in and tell us who to be and how to live?  You know the marginal is growing larger every year.  The fae encourage it and they will own us if we don’t stop it now.”  
  
“You were backing the proposed law?” Jared asked.  
  
Carlson sneered and Jensen was just glad that Jared couldn’t see him.  Jared trusted his team like they were family and to see the way Carlson was staring at him pissed Jensen off.  Jared would be more than angry over it, he’d be hurt, and Jensen had pledged his life to protect the DMI agent.    
  
“No, I wasn’t backing the law.  I was backing the war that those idiots tried to stop.”  
  
“They did stop it,” Jensen interceded.  
  
“Did they?”  
  
Jensen gasped because the new voice was one he hadn’t heard in years.  One that had never actually been directed at him before.  “Morgan?”  
  
The fae who stepped away from the shadows had dark hair peppered with silver.  The smile he wore was cruel with his amusement and Jensen wished he’d never come face to face with the other fae.  “Do you really believe the war is stopped?  The human law enforcement agents have been arming themselves with weapons that will kill the fae.  It’s only a matter of time before something happens that will be inexcusable to the fae and the Queen will have to demand retribution.”  
  
“It won’t happen.  The Queen knows the advantages of living peacefully with the humans,” Jensen answered.  
  
Morgan just smiled though.  “Perhaps.  But civil war will tear apart the courts soon enough and she’ll have her hands busy – or her predecessor will.”  
  
“What have you done?”  
  
“Did you think all of fae would turn away from the obvious disregard for the laws of our kind?”  
  
“The only law of the fae is might,” Jared said.  Cohen moved around to stand by Morgan and Carlson and finally Jared was able to face forward with him.  He would have preferred to keep Jared from facing Carlson, but he was grateful that the dangers they were facing were all in one place.  Cohen and Carlson really should have realized that they were giving up their advantage by putting all weapons where Jensen could see them.    
  
“Exactly,” Morgan answered.  “Might is the only law, and yet we are being ruled by a fae who would bow at your feet if you demanded it.”  
  
“No, she would never.”  
  
The other fae smiled again.  “You could make her.  It was what you were born to do, Son, to take the throne and to ensure the survival of the fae.”  
  
Jensen felt his teeth clench at the way the word son flowed smoothly from the other fae’s mouth.  While Morgan was his father, he had never acknowledged his child, not even to defend him when he’d been thrown from the Seelie court to the Unseelie.  

It was Jensen’s turn to smile at the words though.  “So, you think you can put me on a throne and pull my strings, Father?”  
  
“Father?” Jared and Carlson spoke in unison and Jensen might have smiled at the differences if he weren’t so focused on Morgan.  Jared had already figured it out and his question was confirmation that his hunch at the crime scene had been right.  That Morgan was indeed the fae who’d been part of the murders.  Carlson’s was pure shock.  Morgan hadn’t shared that connection to the men he was working with.  It wasn’t surprising, not with the way Carlson seemed to hate the fae and how Morgan thought so little of the humans.    
  
“You won’t have a choice.  I’ve watched you Jensen.  You’re stronger than the others want to notice but they know to fear the Ghost and they’ve begun to wonder if the Queen should be worried about her pet.  It won’t be long now before the Seelie begin to doubt her and you know what will happen then.”  
  
Jensen took a deep breath because he knew Morgan was right.  “She’ll have no choice but to consider me a threat to her throne and she’ll challenge me.”  
  
“And you’ll win.”  
  
“And the Seelie will go to war with the Unseelie over the unclean, outcast fae that they are too weak to defeat.”  
  
Morgan laughed.  “There is no way the humans will remain unaware or untouched.  The war will spill over into both worlds.”  
  
“And you think the human’s will just lie down and roll over for that?”  Jared demanded.  
  
Carlson shook his head.  “You think we got those new weapons for no reason?  Kripke’s officers are all sporting them now too, as are police offices all over the country.”  
  
“We make a fortune,” Cohen grinned.  “Enough to buy a little slice of property we can remake into a human haven against the fae.”  
  
“So you’re condemning the human race to death except for those who have enough money to pay their way to safety?” Jensen could hear the anger in Jared’s voice and he knew that even though Jared had been working in law enforcement for years, that it hadn’t prepared him for this level of horror.  A civil war in the fae courts would be that, as would the resulting loss of life for the humans, no matter if they fought back or not.  
  
“No.  The human race needs culled.    The strong will remain and those will be allowed to enter out new haven.  The rest, the weak and sick, will be sacrificed to make a stronger nation.”  
  
“You’re insane,” Jared choked out.  
  
Cohen raised his gun again and Jensen moved between Jared and the weapon.  
  
“Don’t do this Jensen,” Morgan said softly.  “Even a creature like you who has a taste for pain will find these bullets a nasty surprise.”  
  
Jensen thought about his options.  He could try to get them away, push them out of the way just far enough to shift them away into the shadows but they would never find the others again.  He knew this was their only chance of ending this conspiracy.  
  
“Oh I have no intention of killing him, Morgan,” Carlson said with a sneer.  “I want the Ghost to live.  They say the more you use shade, the more you feel of the death around you.  Imagine how he’d feel when I kill Padalecki.”  
  
“What the hell did I ever do to you?”     
  
“You’re a god damn traitor!” Cohen yelled at Jared.  “The fae destroyed your family and yet here you are, side by side with one of them.  It’s disgusting.”  
  
Jensen didn’t know what Cohen was talking about but he could feel the surge of pain from Jared at the mention of it.    
  
“What happened to my family wasn’t the fault of the fae.  My mother couldn’t control the magic but it wasn’t the fae that killed her or my sister.”  
  
Morgan let out a short laugh and Jensen knew what was about to happen.  He couldn’t stop it any more than he could have stopped the events of his birth but he knew it would hurt Jared.  He was surprised by the depth of pain he felt at the idea of losing Jared because of it.  
  
“It wasn’t the fae’s fault?”  Morgan asked.  “It was the fae who broke the barrier between the world of the humans and fae.  It was the fae who gave humanity their sight and their magical gifts.”  
  
“What?”  
  
Carlson’s eyes traced back to Morgan and Jensen knew that this story was new to him as well.  Cohen seemed to know the truth and was simply waiting for a chance to shoot Jensen.  
  
“There are a lot of things the Seelie do to keep their world safe.  One of them was to separate the Seelie and the Unseelie. However, thirty years ago such a coupling happened and a child was born of it.  At the moment of his proscribed birth, the barriers between worlds fell and humanity became victim to its own magic.  Because of my son’s birth, your mother gained the power of fire and never learned to control it.  Because Jensen was born, your sister died when your mother boiled her.”  
  
Jared took a step back, the words a visceral blow and while the others were distracted by his reaction, Jensen called shade and fire to him and pushed without bothering to control it.  Flame and smoke filled the apartment and Jensen was diving at Jared, throwing them both to the floor and rolling them towards the cover of the couch that sat between the bedroom area and living room.    
  
He felt the sting of iron in his arm and cursed as he rolled to his feet, reaching for Jared even as the other man was pulling his weapon.  Jared’s eyes were a fury of emotions that Jensen was having trouble deciphering even with the bond between them.  Jared’s jaw was clenched and overriding everything else was a sense of determination that Jensen understood well.  They would see this done tonight, no matter what else they did.    
  
There was no time to plan it out, just a simple nod from Jared to indicate he was moving across to the other end of the couch.  Jensen took a deep breath and focused on the shade around him.  He could feel Morgan pulling a great deal of earth and air to himself and Carlson was working water into something.  He wasn’t near as strong as the fae but it was another attack and he hated the advantage they had over him.  He had an almost incontrollable urge to shift Jared to safety before coming back to fight on his own but he knew that whatever chance he had of keeping Jared his depended on keeping him in the fight.    
  
Instead he waited until Jared started to move and stood up from behind the couch.  Morgan was waiting for him and chunks of the drywall came off, hurling towards Jensen.  He used fire to burn them all as they got close but then Carlson was throwing waves of water into the flames, filling the room with steam.  He kept his shield up, forcing both attacks back, though Morgan’s projectiles were getting through, leaving Jensen with stinging bruises.  Guns were going off to the side and Jensen ignored his fear for Jared, concentrating on the knowledge that the pained grunts were coming from Cohen on the other side of the room.  He didn’t know if Jared was okay, not the way he was darting out from behind the chair for each shot and then back behind it again for cover.  
  
“Why are you doing this Steve?” Jared asked his earlier question again over the roar of the fight.  “You were a good agent.  We were doing good work.”  
  
“The DMI is a joke Jared!  Good work?  How could they do good work when they spent the last five years run by a void?”  Carlson laughed.  “I only joined you because I knew it would give me better access to the names I needed.”  
  
“You’ve been planning it, all this time?”  
  
“It took a while for Morgan to get the courts to see the threat Jensen was to the throne,” Cohen’s answer was breathier than it had been before and Jensen took that as a good sign.  
  
He pulled shade to him again, only this time he felt the pull of Jared’s magic as well, felt Jared giving himself over to Jensen’s shade the same way he had the first night they’d been together.  He felt the way Jared could reach into his chest and felt the way his magic pressed into the corners of Jensen’s soul and filled him with more power than he’d ever held before.  
  
“What are you doing?” Morgan demanded as Jensen’s shield became impenetrable.  
  
“They said that if you’d been able to stop yourself that you never would have been with her,” Jensen answered softly.  “They said if it hadn’t been for the way the magic pushed the two of you together that I never would have been born.  I never believed it.  I thought you did this on purpose for some reason I could never divine.  At least until I met Jared because then I knew what it was like to have the magic pushing you towards something.  When his powers came out, it bound us together even stronger than my protective bond could have.  What we are, we have no words for.  But you can either surrender yourself to the Queen’s justice, or you can face my wrath.”  
  
“Your wrath?  I am trying to make fae strong once again!”  
  
“You are trying to take from me what is mine!”  
  
Morgan’s eyes became steely and Jensen didn’t hesitate.  He drew all the shade and their combined magic would allow and he pushed it out at Morgan and wrapped it back around through Carlson.  He had no idea what it would do; shade was never predictable, especially when used in large quantities.  Morgan’s eyes went wide as the shade ran through his body.  Blood welled in his eyes and began to fall like tears as trails of it also ran from the corner of his lips and down from his nose.  It was hard to kill a fae, but Jensen watched as the shade decayed the fae from the inside out, face and hands turning ruddy before they took a gray tint.  Smoke began to rise from his skin just as Carlson’s began choking.  Jensen watched as Carlson spat up mouthfuls of water but never seemed to empty.  He drowned in Jensen living room with Morgan next to him, skin cracking and hardening like lava.    
  
When Jensen let go of the magic, the two men were dead and he pain edged his world.  He gripped the back of the couch, trying to keep control of the pain that filled his body.  It was the price of shade but he wasn’t ready to give it yet, not when he needed to see Jared safe.  
  
“Jensen!”  
  
He didn’t hear Jared’s warning in time to do more than turn but it was enough to make the bullet hit his shoulder instead of his heart.  He staggered back with the blow of it and then watched as Cohen screamed – Jared had tapped into Jensen’s power and was forcing the man’s screams.  Cohen was just a mortal though and he crumpled under the agony.      
  
Jensen fell to his knees, barely able to keep his consciousness.  He felt Jared before he heard him.  At first the words didn’t make any sense but then he realized that Jared was talking to Kane, giving him the address to get the team there along with an ambulance.    
  
Jensen wasn’t sure an ambulance would do any good.  It wasn’t the bullet that was taking his consciousness, but the shade.  There was nothing they could do to save him if the shade demanded his life in payment for the use tonight.    
  
“Jensen, you listen to me.  The others are coming.  Don’t flip out when they get here.  Shit, I don’t know how Carlson managed to get through the evaluations but the rest … Jensen they’re safe, alright?  You have to trust them, alright?  For me?”  
  
“Not gonna be here when they arrive, Jared,” Jensen said softly.  He raised his arm, grunting in pain from where the bullet had grazed him early on, and fisted Jared’s hair.  “Can’t stay much longer.”  
  
“Yes, you can.  It can’t take you from me, not now that I think we might actually be able to figure this out.  I won’t let it.  So I’m gonna do this thing Jensen and then you’re gonna do everything you can to save me.”  
  
“Jared?”  He felt the pressure ease up then, felt Jared’s hands on his chest and then Jared was in his chest again, his power flowing through him, all around him as Jared pulled the pain away and into his own body.  “Jared, no!” He was too weak to fight it though and as he felt his own pain shifting into pleasure, Jared’s body convulsed over him, eyes rolling back into his head before he collapsed onto Jensen’s chest.  
  
He scrambled up, getting Jared on his back and opening himself up to the bond they shared.  He didn’t know if there was anything he could do but damn it he wasn’t about to let Jared die for him.  The connection between them was far weaker than it ever had been but he could feel the pain radiating from Jared.  He didn’t know what else to do, but as Jared grew weak, Jensen fed him everything he could, his emotions and his magic and his pain.  His very soul was slowly going into the man to keep him there.

  
He heard the door thrown open and only gave it enough attention to realize it was Kane.  He heard the gasp of the others but kept his mind on Jared.  He heard the soft calm voice of Beaver in the background and it soothed him as much as anything Jensen could remember.  The words weren’t clear, though he could remember things like ‘keep him going’ and ‘sustaining him when his spirit was too weak to keep going’ and ‘just give him a little’.    
  
“For Jared,” Kane said close to his ear and suddenly there were hands on his shoulder and McCoy’s fire and Tal’s water were filling up the places he had emptied into Jared.  He had no idea how long they kept it up, but McCoy and Tal were replaced by Able and Murray, then Milton and Kane.  Beaver was the last and it was the press of shade into his body that finally forced Jensen to shut down, his body giving in the moment he realized Jared’s soul was taking what it needed and no longer needed Jensen to be conscious of the flow.

**

“You’re sure that’s the last of them?”  
  
Jared sighed as he looked at the list of names in front of him.   “No, but it’s everyone we could find even a superficial connection to Carlson, Cohen, or Morgan.”  It was going to take a long time to get the anti-fae sentiment down and to convince the police that the fae weapons were unnecessary but until then at least they had something to work off of.    
  
Cortese shook her head.  “It will take months, maybe years, to settle this mess.”  
  
“Do you think Jensen is still at risk of reprisal from the Queen?”   Jared wasn’t sure why he was asking her.  She wasn’t a fan of the Ghost’s but no one was closer to the Queen’s ear in the current political climate than the liaison.    
  
“No one is even sure the ghost will wake from a coma, let along know what sort of power he’ll have once he does.  I think unless Ackles makes a point of showing his powers off, no one will believe him a threat again.”  
  
Jared looked down at his desk, trying not to react to her words.  He wasn’t sure what was happening to Jensen, but he knew the fae wasn’t asleep.  He could feel the way his mind was moving, the way his mind was pushing and pulling and taking from Jared when he was close.  It wasn’t as strong when they weren’t touching but it was there nonetheless.  He didn’t think Jensen was weaker than he had been but Jared was more than willing to let the rest of the world think it if it meant Jensen would be safe from the Queen and the risk of civil war could be averted.    
  
“Guess we’ll just have to wait for him to decide to get his ass out of bed then,” Jared tried to tease.  
  
The rest of the team was there, listening in and he tried to ignore their concerned looks.  Most of them were trying to treat him the same, but Beaver was guilt ridden than the use of shade had caused Jensen to black out and fall into a coma somehow so he was walking on eggshells around Jared.  Murray was being downright odd about it all, but while he treated Jared like usual, he spent time each day with Jensen.  Sometimes he read to him and others he talked to him, or watched television with him, narrating what he was seeing.  Murray said he was teaching the Ghost how to be more human since he was going to be spending time with them.  Milton reminded him that Ackles fit in better than Murray did but the agent just ignored their teasing and continued to visit Jensen where he was resting in Jared’s bed.  
  
Cortese smiled her polite smile, the one he’d seen plenty of times.  The one that meant she didn’t believe anything she was about to say.  “Of course.  Once he’s up and around we’ll be able to get together and finish this list for good.  He’s sure to know more of the fae who had an interest in Morgan.”  
  
“Or not.”  
  
Jared nearly jumped at the voice coming from behind him.  The rest of the team was in movement, power pulled and weapons drawn but Jared had felt the presence an instance before the voice hit and he was turning to get to Jensen before weapons were completely cleared.    
  
“What are you doing here?” Jared demanded as he faced Jensen, hands reaching out to cup Jensen’s cheek before he could stop himself.     
  
Jensen didn’t seem to mind as he leaned into the touch.  “Your house is boring as hell.  Murray forgot to leave the magazines behind yesterday and there were no good movies on.”  
  
“Hey!  I left the books.”  
  
“We already read those,” Jensen said, without taking his eyes off of Jared.    
  
“You’re a damn idiot,” Jared said without thinking.  Jensen was a fae, but he was Jared’s no matter what else and he couldn’t help himself.    
  
“Me?  The shade was coming after me, not you.”  
  
“I can take it better.”  He was teasing but only slightly.  Jensen was a master when it came to inflicting pain and drawing pleasure out from it, but Jared was the one whose nature was to take the pain and feel it as something else.  He’d known when he did it that he could take what the shade demanded, that Jensen would see him through it, but he’d never expected Jensen to give so much.  Or for his friends to.  He’d talked to Beaver about it already, the strong bond that he could feel with each of his teammates and he’d been told it was mutual.  They were all feeling the added closeness and for Beaver it wasn’t just an inexplicable bond but a fully developed empathy now.  He also knew that it had been Beaver’s bond that had taken the team close enough to Jensen’s apartment that night that they’d been in time to augment Jensen and Jared’s healing.  
  
Jensen smiled as he reached out and pulled Jared to him.  Jared could feel him pulling his magic up around him and smiled at the way the shade pulled at him.  He understood now why it did, understood that it wasn’t something Jensen was controlling as much as it was a reflection of what his lover – his mate as the fae called their bond – was feeling.  When Jensen’s hand pressed up underneath his shirt though, the shade he pressed there, the small pinpricks of pain that dotted his skin made him bite his bottom lip to keep from moaning.  He wanted nothing more than to let Jensen have his way with him, but he knew Jensen needed more time.  It wasn’t the same pain as it once had been, wasn’t the same strength as it had been, and he knew Jensen was taking it easy for the both of them.  
  
“Just don’t do anything like that ever again and we’ll get along just fine.”  
  
“Guess this means you’re sticking around, right?” Murray asked as he stepped up behind Jensen.    
  
“What?”  Jensen turned to look at him and it was then that Jared realized they were all watching closely.  It was Kane that broke the silence.  
  
“We always said nine members, Jared.  Three times three.  It’s a powerful way to work and with everything that’s happened, it seems like we need all the help we can get.  Carlson’s desk ain’t exactly clean, but I figure we could get it cleaned up before Ackles is fit to work.”  
  
Jared had gotten used to being able to feel what people were feeling when he was using magic, but he didn’t’ need even that much to feel what Jensen was feeling.  So close, he could feel the surprise like it was his own.  So close, he could feel the gratitude and the acceptance that these people – human though they were - could accept him no matter who he was and where he’d come from.  
  
Jared smiled as he looked at Jensen.  “He’s got a good point.  We’d be the only DMI office with a fae on the payroll.”  
  
Jensen let out a startled laugh.  “You think you can pay me enough to work with you sordid lot?”  
  
“We figured the benefits might sway you,” Abel said with a grin.  
  
“Benefits?”  
  
“Keeping Padalecki safe.  Keeping him out of trouble.  And you know how people get after an adrenaline rush, right?” Tal asked.  
  
“A hyper Jared is supposed to sell me on the job?”  
  
Tal winked.  “I was thinking a horny one might.  Adrenaline rushes make for some pretty great sex.”  
  
Jared could feel his face heating up and he rolled his eyes at the way his subordinates were offering up his body as an incentive to get Jensen to work with them.  Not that he wasn’t willing, but it was the principle of the thing.  
  
“Do you think you guys could do a little less pimping and a little more work today?” He asked.  
  
They all laughed and Murray clapped him on the back.  “Don’t worry, Jay, I think we sold him.”  
  
“Lunch time, y’all.  I’m buying if you move your asses now.”  Kane yelled out.  
  
Jared found himself suddenly alone with Jensen in the middle of the office and could barely keep the grin off his face.  
  
“Wow, Kane is subtle.”  
  
Jared laughed then and Jensen was laughing so Jared pulled him close, not worried about anything else but holding the fae close and feeling his heart beat next to his.  “So, you think you could handle the work?” he asked before his nerves could get the best of him.  He hadn’t thought of it before but the team had always been smarter than him and he trusted their opinion.    
  
“I don’t know.  It seems like there could be some trouble around here.”  
  
“Is that so?” he asked.  Jensen’s voice was light and teasing and Jared wasn’t sure where things were going with them, but he knew that whatever they had, it was going in the right direction.  
  
“Yeah.  Though, I think maybe I might need to sample some of these benefits to see what I might be missing.”  
  
Jared laughed as he felt Jensen lean in, biting lightly at his neck.  “I can think of a better place for that.”  
  
“So can I,” Jensen said as he wrapped Jared closer to him.  Shade pulled up around them and Jensen was pulling him towards the shadows in the corner of the room.  He let himself be led and smiled as the shade took his sight.  He knew he was safe, with Jensen’s arms around him and their magic twining around them.  “My ghost,” he whispered softly into Jensen’s ear.  Jensen shivered and then they were shifting, moving, travelling together.  No longer alone but human and fae, agent and ghost, two and yet one.  
  
And though the fae never came after Jensen they were still careful.  The DMI had gained an agent, but Jensen Ackles wasn’t just an agent.  He was born, and would die as he was meant to be.  The protector of humanity and guiding fear of the fae.  The Ghost.  


  


  


  

[](//www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/)


	2. More

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I’ll give you anything you need Jared. You just have to ask.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the December Drabble Days

“Okay?”  
  
Jared shivered at the word whispered into his ear.  He moaned and received a soft laugh for it.  He would say more if he could, but he was far too lost in the sensations to speak coherently.  He could barely beg.  
  
“So beautiful like this,” Jensen whispered again.  
  
Jared gasped as The Ghost pushed the shadow against his skin, into his flesh and seared him with pain.  
  
“Please,” he begged.  
  
“I’ll give you anything you need Jared.  You just have to ask.”  
  
“More.”  
  
Jensen pulled his head back sharply by his hair and kissed him hard.  “Anything you want.”


End file.
